An Analysis of “Peach” by D. H. Lawrence Essay

What will you think of, when you eat a fruit, like a peach? I think many people’s answer would be nothing at all. However, a peach triggers some poetic romance in D.H. Lawrence, and some beautiful verses are thus created. The poem _Peach_ was brainless at first glance–this is indeed not an impenetrable poem, but it renders a significant thought that the creations of nature, even the most unconscious ones, has the beauty that no artificial objects can ever achieve. The poem itself in free verse is modernist, defying conventional structured form and the language is more prose than scanned lines – the whole poem is a kick at traditional attitudes and the Victorians were not traditionalists but reactionaries regarding their attitudes to sex, so this is a complex revolutionary poem and extemely modern for its time. The poem is intensely modernist. Not only does D H Lawrence take an everyday activity (eating a peach) and unpack unsuspected and surprising meaning from it. Lawrence suggests that the simple pleasure of eating a peach may be connected with the way that the peach hasn’t been manufactured. Nature’s beauty is embodied in its imperfection because there are no straight lines or perfect shape in nature. It exists randomly and obliquely. After we stepped onto this world mankind has been finding all ways to be ‘perfect’, as defined by them. This is nature’s definition of perfection, or perhaps working towards a common goal of being perfect. Why do we have to turn that 180 degrees and make straight lines all over the world? We grasp our pencils and place the rulers on that sheet of paper and zoom the line goes straight and â€Å"perfect†. We connect the dots with straight lines and we draw geometric figures in mathematic and so on. But maybe we need to adjust our angle of  see the world. Actually nature has very little to do with math. Most things in the world cannot and should not be simply viewed scientifically. Things were, are and will never be judge to be right or wrong. We live in a wonderful world but we are probably making a hash of it. Nature has given us beauty in everything we see and for no good reason – nature or unknown forces could have made the world ugly but it has not and almost illogically has given us wonderfully coloured flowers, incredible animals and sunsets to die for. Lawrence saw man as kind of a mad animal like many painters saw the industrial revolution as a disaster. Next time we encounter a fruit, we should not only eat it for nutrients, but also soak in its incomparable beauty endowed by nature.

“Cassablanca” And “Gone With The Wind” Essay

From the great scientist Thomas Alva Edison marks the birth of the most brilliant inventions of all time that has changed the lives of the human race over time. That [is] the debut of the photographic equipment that can record and play series of shots accompanied by sound, popularly called motion picture. By motion picture we mean, films or movies. However the real definition covers the television media as a whole, starting from movies, commercials, TV series, to news and the like. For centuries, motion pictures have portrayed a great role in influencing the lives of the human population which are dominating in the mainstream culture. Decades after decades or maybe year after year from its birth, the transition of motion pictures has evolved as technology continues to reach its infinite summit. From black and white to colored films, blasted with computer generated special effects nowadays, this has become a form of entertainment that is continuously patronized. Not only do motion pictures provide entertainment, but also it can provide education to the audience. For the great Thomas Alva Edison said that motion picture is going to revolutionize the educational system. Because of this extensive array that films provide this has mark the advent of the film industry. There has been no doubt that films are continuously patronized by its consumers. And as the economy film industry booms, there has also an increase in the category or the variety of films from which consumers can choose. The types of movies classified by the Motion Picture Research Bureau in 1942 includes: Comedies (which can have subtypes such as sophisticated, slapstick, family life, musical), war pictures, mystery and horror pictures, historicals and biographies, fantasies, western pictures, gangster and G-men pictures, serious dramas, love stories, romantic pictures, socially significant pictures, adventure, action pictures, musicals (serious), child star pictures, and (Wild) animal pictures. Others have classified motion pictures according to function. Such classification includes: feature films, animated films, documentaries, experimental films, industrial films, and educational films. When movies are classified according to type, this becomes more beneficial to most of the film producers. This is because they could sell out their films easily for their audience knows what to look forward to because it is much easier to familiarize generic films. This types of pictures use a series of repeating visual themes which allows the viewers to understand the collective information regarding characters, situations, and overall message of any film. Since audience always expect that there is some element of novelty in any film. Technology paved its way to allow innovation for such films to have generic consistency. In many ways, for historians, thinking about genre can expose what might have been ideologically `familiar` to viewers in a time period, and also what they might have perceived as daring or unfamiliar. Every film documents the historical accounts in a genre where people can relate themselves because this is what is happening in their society. Such example is the motion picture during the period where the renowned scientist Thomas Alva Edison lives up to the present genre of motion pictures in computer age. Films indeed mark every course of the world’s history. Contemporary films starting from the 1930’s up to the 1960’s were films which covers the historical events that took place during those times. Films like Casablanca (released in 1942) and Gone with the Wind (released in 1939) retells the history of the Nazi invasion (in Casablanca) and the American Civil War (in Gone with the Wind). These two films reflect the social condition of the people during the Nazi-invasion and during the American Civil War. Casablanca The people living between 1930’s to 1960’s can easily relate to Casablanca for the setting of the story was during the Second World War. Casablanca is a story that revolves around Rick Blaine who is a bitter, cynical American, owner of â€Å"Rick’s Cafe Americain†. The nightclub/casino attracts a mixed clientele of Vichy French and Nazi officials, refugees and thieves. Although Rick professes â€Å"not to stick out his neck to everybody†, he still manages to help those who are in need and involves himself to people like Ugarte. Ugarte killed two German couriers to get the letters of transit which is a passport to travel freely around German-controlled Europe and to neutral Portugal, and from there to the United States. And because everybody wants to escape the hostilities of Europe, Ugarte plans to make a fortune out of the letter. However, before he tries to do so he was arrested and was killed under the command of under the command of Captain Louis Renault. Not knowingly, Ugarte had entrusted the letters to Rick. All the bitterness in Rick’s love affair would flashback when his ex-lover Ilsa arrives with her husband Victor, a Czech Resistance leader, to buy the letters. The needs to go to America so that Victor can continue his work. However, Laszlo is eyed by German Major Strasser. Laszlo as advised by Signor Ferrari, meets with Rick privately to get the letters, however Rick refuses to give the letters and request for Ilsa instead. Interrupted by Strasser’s group who led to sing the German patriotic song, Laszlo was infuriated. Then Laszlo tells the house band to play the French national anthem. Rick allowed the band to play the song which lead Strasser to order Renault to close the club. Rick refuses Ilsa to give the documents even though he was threatened by her. And then Ilsa confesses that she still loves Rick, explaining why she had left Rick without explanation that day in Paris and Return to Laszlo. After hearing the whole detail, Rick agrees to help, leading her to believe that she will stay behind with him when Laszlo leaves. From the story alone it appears that Casablanca was really loved by many people because the movie shows the hardships of the people during World War II. The film also tries to show how people desperately want to get out of Europe to seek an orderly life in America. The film also shows that because the Nazi ceased all trades in Europe, these people living in Casablanca have to resort to black market in order to survive. Moreover the film centralizes its theme to the myth of sacrifice. The idea of sacrifice reassures the audience of this time who were caught in distraught during the war. The love triangle in the movie represents the emotional struggle of a woman caught between two men has given an entertaining value for the film. Gone with the Wind Another contemporary movie that is another prototype of Casablanca is Gone with the Wind. Gone with the Wind is a story of a difficult woman Scarlett O’ Hara who is supposed to be an heir of a large cotton plantation until the American Civil War came. Scarlett falls in love with Ashley Wilkes however Ashley is hopelessly in love with his cousin Melanie whom he proposes to marry. When Scarlett heard the news she also got married to Ashley’s comrade but then she became widow as her husband died in the war. On the other side of the story Rhett Butler, a businessman and a visitor in Tara was attracted to Scarlett however Scarlett never entertains the idea. During the war Scarlett serves as a nurse in the refuge of soldiers who gets wounded in the fight. And as things get worst, Rhett Butler was there to help and sends Scarlett to her home in Tara together with Melanie. As the life in Tara gets harder because of the Civil War and Yankees try to get all the pieces of land they could get in the South. Scarlett decided to go to Rhett and ask Rhett to help her. However Rhett turned Scarlett down and so Scarlett went to the rich lover of one of her sisters and professes her love. Soon she remarries and got rich again. She started managing a timber business together with Ashley. Not long enough Scarlett became a widow for the second time and soon she got married to Rhett. They have a child named Bonnie, but still they were fighting for Scarlett was so insistent on not having a child again. Rhett thought that all of this has something to do with her love for Ashley so they became separated for a while. A tragic incident happen when Scarlett lost her second child and Bonnie. Scarlett realized how much he loved Rhett and professes her love to him. But Rhett still decided to leave her. Gone with the Wind was loved by many people for they can relate to War movies at that time likewise with Casablanca. People were entertained because they could easily put themselves into the character and into the situation where they live. The element of love story in the film tries to show that we should still be hopeful amidst tragic event for as Scarlett O’ Hara said in the finale â€Å"tomorrow is another day†. Love can never be lost in every war for it is where sacrifices and hopes come from. People enjoyed watching those films that time for film is the only form of escape from the reality of life. Despite the war people can think that they can still love no matter how hard life is.

North West Case Essay

Executive Summary North West Company will move towards a â€Å"pull strategy† within its supply chain. Pull production is based on actual or consumed demand and individual store managers will monitor this. The benefit of localization for North West will be a higher inventory turnover rate. The benefit for customers will be a more customized shopping experience based on their community. The potential risks are there are high costs involved in implementing a new database system and procurement decisions will be divided between category managers and store managers. We will implement a new database system and train store managers to purchase inventory based on local and regional needs. This system will allow stores to be a part of their community and customer needs can be better met. Issue Identification These are the following issues that must be addressed: Forecasting and Procurement – Low Inventory Turnover Rate Product Receiving and Shipping – Reducing Cycle Time Merchandising and Selling – Interorganizational Information Systems Store Managers – Preference Implications Environment and Root Cause Analysis Environment North West Company has a lower inventory turnover rate than most of its competitors and that is due to the use of a â€Å"push strategy† within the supply chain. Customer demands are not taken into consideration and they often have to shop at competitors to meet their needs. Issue Identification Forecasting and Procurement – Low Inventory Turnover Rate Forecasting and procurement use a â€Å"push strategy† where production decisions are based on long term historical forecasting. Category managers look at past trends and base their buying decisions on past sales. Purchase orders are submitted at least 4 months prior to the intended selling period. This does not allow for a response to changes in demand. This can lead to overstocking inventory, which is what causes the low turnover rate. The relationship with suppliers is streamlined because orders are placed in large batches and way ahead of time. The lack of customization allows suppliers to respond quickly and production is ahead of schedule. Product Receiving and Shipping – Reducing Cycle Time Products arrive at the distribution center approximately two months prior to the selling period. Inventory is separated between temporary and regular on two floors. Space is optimized because of the tight managing schedule or receiving and shipping however the lead-time to distribute the merchandise is too long. Excess merchandise is â€Å"pushed† to stores and eventually ends up being marked down. Merchandising and Selling – Interorganizational Information Systems Once merchandise arrives to the stores it is immediately put on display. Rural stores often sell out of popular items and customers are left with no choice but to shop at a competitor or substitute for other items. Demand for particular stores is not forecasted and this is an opportunity cost. The product assortment is kept fresh throughout the selling period by splitting up shipments throughout the period. There is a lack of information between stores and what each store/region requires. Store Managers – Preference Implications Category managers currently make all procurement decisions. Individual  stores have no say in what they will be selling and cannot combat customer demands. Although a costly process, if managers are given the ability to customize their inventory stores will be able to cater to their specific communities. Alternatives and Options Forecasting and Procurement – Inventory Turnover Pro: Forecasting and procurement is a fairly simple process because orders are placed in large batches and way ahead of time based on historical data. Con: It takes longer to respond to changes in demand, which results in overstocking. Alternative: Dividing inventory into two categories – General and Seasonal/Customized. General merchandise with consistent sales will maintain the â€Å"push strategy† as the process is less costly and decisions are based on data. Seasonal/Customized inventory will adopt a â€Å"pull strategy† where store managers will have the opportunity to make decisions based on their immediate environment. Product Receiving and Shipping – Reducing Cycle Time Pro: The distribution center is already divided into two floors – one for immediate shipping and the other for storage. This makes for easy access to what needs to be shipped right away and what does not. Con: Two months is a long time to be housing inventory that is projected for a specific period. Demands can change in this time frame and the distribution center is left with no choice other than to â€Å"push† inventory to store warehouses. This is what leads to unnecessary markdowns. Alternative: Placing orders with suppliers at a later date will reduce the time inventory sits at the distribution center. The center already runs  smoothly and on schedule so pushing back shipments should not be a problem. This will allow orders to go in at a later date where inventory demands might change. Merchandising and Selling – Interorganizational Information Systems Pro: Merchandise is immediately put on display so stores do not have to stock inventory. Con: If a store runs out of certain products they cannot meet demand. Similarly, if a product does not sell it will eventually go into clearance. Alternative: Creating a database between stores that shows inventory of each store will allow inventory to move easily from one location to the next. Stores should hold some general merchandise in order to allow a continuous flow of turnover. Store Managers – Preference Implications Pro: Store managers can customize orders based on customer needs and local trends. There is opportunity to have higher inventory turnover because of localization. Con: Manager’s preferences can be biased and oppose that of the company as a whole. Alternative: Store managers should be given proper training and a guideline of what they can purchase. Managers are limited to â€Å"OTB† dollars. Recommendations The following is a summary of my recommendations: Categorize inventory into two sections: General and Seasonal/Customized Maintain the current system for General merchandise  Seasonal/Customized inventory to move to a â€Å"pull system† Within the â€Å"pull system†, seasonal/customized inventory is ordered at a later date to reduce storage time at distribution center Create storage space within individual stores for General merchandise Implementing a database for all stores to view on hand inventory Training store managers to use the database Developing an allowance for store managers to purchase products for their individual stores Implementation The first step is to categorize inventory between general and seasonal/customized. This will be appointed to category managers. General inventory will maintain the system that is already in place and will be consistent for all 147 stores. Once seasonal/customized inventory is identified, forecasting should be done two months prior to purchasing period. This responsibility will be that of the store manager. Cycle time will be reduced as the distribution center will now only be a gathering point for incoming shipments rather than a storage facility. Individual stores should allow for some storage space for General inventory and overstock. North West will need to invest at least $10 million to develop a database. The database will take a month to implement and we should consider up to two months for training of store managers. The category managers will determine the allowance that each store manager is given. We can look at data to determine which stores are most successful and calculate an allowance based on individual store inventory turnover. The entire plan should take no longer than six months to implement. Monitor and Control Timely checks should be made to see if the implementation plan is successful. Once inventory has been categorized and a database has been developed, category managers should measure the store managers’ performance. This includes examining if inventory turnover has gone up. Customers can be given surveys to measure whether or not their needs are being met. The  reduction in markdowns should be measured as well in order to determine whether or not this is a feasible system.

Personal paper on anorexia regarding someone in family Statement

Paper on anorexia regarding someone in family - Personal Statement Example â€Å"In the U.S. and other countries with high economic status, it is estimated that about one out of every 100 adolescent girls has the disorder† (MedicineNet, 2009) I have a sister in who is affected by anorexia even though not in a severe manner. She was very much conscious about her physical appearances even from late childhood. Initially nobody cared much about such behavior and my parents thought her habits were quite normal. In my country, overweight is a big problems and obese people are trying every means to reduce their weight. Moreover gaining overweight create lot of physical and psychological problems like high blood pressure, type 2 diabetics, cardiac problems, lack of self esteem etc. So initially my parents encouraged her in her efforts to reduce her weight. But later we realized that she was affected by the mental disorder anorexia and need attention. This paper explains my knowledge about anorexia based on the characteristic s I observed in sister’s behavior after she was confirmed with anorexia. â€Å"Anorexia usually begins in young people around the onset of puberty. Individuals suffering from anorexia have extreme weight loss. Weight loss is usually 15% below the persons normal body weight. The disorder is thought to be most common among people of higher socioeconomic classes and people involved in activities where thinness is especially looked upon, such as dancing, theater, and distance running† (MamasHealth, 2009). Normally people who belong to the high class society would be more conscious about their physical appearances compared to low class societies. Low class people might have lot of other issues related to their survival in the society. So they might not be concerned with the physical beauty much. On the other hand, those who belong to high class society may not have much serious issues related to their survival in the

Toyota Marketing in China Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Toyota Marketing in China - Essay Example Sales of marketable vehicle in the country are forecasted to grow at a CAGR of around 5.5% during 2008-2010. Based on the past performance, it is projected that passenger car sales will cross 11 Million Units in 2010. China is the world's second largest car market. It overtook Japan just last year and is challenging to become the world's largest automobile market. The industrial revolution in China has prompted development and growth in the middle-class of China and the automobiles have translated into a symbol of prestige. Toyota was a latecomer to the China market. Within its global strategies, North America is the top priority, followed by its home country Japan. China has been included in Toyota's top development strategy in recent years with its first China-made VIOS sedan produced in Tianjin in October 2002. Considering China as an immature auto market, the company had adopted a three-stage development plan -- first to establish a local sales network and launch brand promotions, then to build auto parts manufacturing bases, and, finally, to establish joint ventures (JVs) with local players and produce automobiles. Although a latecomer, Toyota has jumped to the front in terms of imported car volume -- 50,000 units annually (Jiang, 2004). The company stepped into the most important and critical stage -- speeding up the localization of its products, since its rivals, such as Honda and General Motors, started accelerating their saturation into China. After the market entry of the Prado and Land Cruis er with China's First Automobile Works, its manufactured goods with Guangzhou Automobile Manufacturing Co -- Camry, which was a great success in the Untied States, was also developed. Forbes magazine comments on Toyota's success in the US auto market, saying that once the company sets goals, it will manage to exceed the targets. What is more demanding to its rivals is Toyota's approach to realize these goals. That estimation may well apply to its China development. Although Toyota missed the first opportunities, it will likely catch up if it pays more attention to the China market and introduces high-end brands. Toyota may scale back its ambitious target of selling more vehicles in the United States this year than it did in 2007, as damage from an economic slowdown and high oil prices becomes more fully known. Toyota sold more than 4.8 million vehicles worldwide in the first half of this year, up 2% from the same period a year earlier, the Japanese automaker said Wednesday. That exceeded General Motors Corp.'s sales of 4.5 million vehicles in the same period, setting up Toyota to potentially end GM's 76-year run as the world's top automaker by sales (CNN Money, 2007) Toyota, the third-biggest foreign car brand in China, reported investing 3.6 billion Yuan ($526.8 million) to double the production capacity of one of its plants. This should boost Toyota's overall capacity in China to 830,000 units by the first half of 2010. Global requirement for light hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) is estimated to reach 4.5 million units in 2013. Increasing energy costs and greater than before emissions regulations are likely to increase demand for HEVs. The US is expected to experience the highest level of demand for HEVs, estimated at two million units in

Negotiating with the emotionally disturbed Essay

Negotiating with the emotionally disturbed - Essay Example Due to these reasons, the affected people become antisocial, depressed and dependant on people that are close to them. The 1992 terrorist attack in Munich affected many people whose family members or friends lost their lives. The press helped a lot but it was too late since the attackers had already accomplished their plan. Bergh and Lipscomb (1904) argue that anywhere that when the press is free, everything is safe. The riot at Attica in 1971 brought about the racial issue of the whites supervising a prison that mast of the inmates were blacks and Hispanic who were from urban areas. The primary grievances by the rioting prisoners were that there were cultural differences and basically lack of clear understanding among the prison warders. The reasons were confirmed and termed as a legitimate problem that could be addressed by the government (Irwin 1980). The Attica riot These factors have led to the increase of minority staff in prisons to prevent more riots in the prison. This is a factor that was sought in the whole country for over thirty years .minority workers are often very reluctant to relocate to rural areas where most of the prisoners have a the same ethnic background or in other cases the prisons are of the same race. Some workers also find it difficult to take jobs that can be viewed as racist given the fact that there is overrepresentation of minority prisoners in the justice system. These obstacles have not stopped the prisons to achieve the success of obtaining the racial balance and good ethnic representation of the workers in various prisons. Many researchers have paid little or no attention to the change in the correctional units and the whole impact of the racial balance when it comes to deploying the workforce in prisons nation wide (Wright and Saylor 1992). What happened at Attica brings about the subsequent realization of putting in mind the representation of the minority staff in all the prisons. In any organization in the world today, tea mwork among the workers in prison is very important for efficiency and very instrumental to attain a safe institution. In addition to that, it is crucial for all the prison officers to work closely with all the inmates to prevent more riots. When correctional officers work as a team putting aside problems like the racial diversities, it brings about effective work thus preventing more riots in future. The 1972 Munich terrorist attack This was a traumatic experience to the Germans. The Olympic Games were underway when terrorists killed many people that the incident was termed as a massacre. The Israeli Olympic team was kidnapped and mercilessly killed by Palestinians. The influence of the massacre to the contemporary culture is that the media has been given freedom to report on anything that can affect the country. In the world today, the media is very sensitive on terrorism matters and how it conveys it to the public. Palestines are viewed as terrorists and the world at large is ver y conscious when dealing with anyone from the east. The Jewish on the other hand are friends to the western countries like the united states and the UK.The effects of the attack is very evident in the contemporary society in that the migration of people from the east especially the Arabs to countries in the western world have been restricted due to the fear of terrorism. People from different continents today antagonize the Arabs especially the palatines because they are termed as terrorists and enemies of Israel. Since the day of the massacre, the Israelites have very good relationships with many countries worldwide. This is because people think that they were attacked for no reasons other than the history between the

Stamp Act of 1765. The single event most contributory to the American Essay

Stamp Act of 1765. The single event most contributory to the American Revolution - Essay Example The successful outcome of the war for the colonials also showed a great military power can be defeated by the ragtag guerilla army composed mostly of militia members who were essentially farmers and ordinary citizens. This is an event that could have been prevented only if the British monarch at that time used common sense and listened to the voice of the colonial people and the war could have been averted. It is not hard to imagine how a disciplined British army could be defeated by irregulars or part-time soldiers raised by George Washington and taught in the use of hit-and-run guerilla tactics learned from the native Americans or the red Indians. The American Revolution was in fact a war for independence because the American people already had more than enough of all the accumulated grievances and aggravations they suffered under an autocratic British monarch. The Americans got tired of always complaining and not being heard; their previous grievances were all practically ignored and they were looked down as second-class citizens with little or no rights at all to demand what is due them in a supposedly reasonable form of enlightened rule. It is an amazing turn of events because the two combatants were not equal in power in terms of men, war materials, experience, and logistics but the American Revolution is an example of what is called as an asymmetric war. The two belligerents did not have the same war strategy or military tactics either. It was the Stamp Act of 1765 passed by the British parliament which had contributed significantly to the outbreak of hostilities in the American Revolution. Discussion There were already many grumblings from the American colonial people prior to the actual start of the American Revolution and the British monarchy could have taken heed of these complaints but it chose not to hear these valid complaints but instead chose to ignore them. It is a twist of fate that the Stamp Act of 1765 could be the so-called â€Å"final str aw that broke the camel's back† as the old adage goes, because prior to this onerous or burdensome new tax, there were a good number of British official acts which drew anger and adverse reaction from the Americans. Among these previous laws were the series of Navigation Acts which restricted shipping and the resulting trade between British colonies and other countries, the intent being to force a business relationship that is mainly favorable to England only, the Molasses Act of 1733 which imposed a six pence tax per gallon of imported molasses, and followed by the Sugar Act of 1764 imposing a lower three pence tax per gallon of imported molasses to ensure a better tax compliance. All these parliament acts were intended not only to raise much-needed revenues for the government expenses associated with maintaining its various colonies but also to ensure that its monopoly on trading with the colonies is tightened as it is a very lucrative business indeed and England does not wa nt other foreign countries as competitors. The Stamp Act of 1765 was really a way to raise new taxes for the maintenance of a standing army in North America just in case a new war breaks out and this army was intended as a deterrent. This latest act of 1765 imposed a direct tax on most printed materials used in the American colonies like on all legal documents, in newspapers, magazines, and books by requiring the use of a special paper embossed with a logo of the British revenue stamp. In effect, this new act was a form of direct tax on the colonies. The Stamp Act o

Negative Message Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Negative Message - Assignment Example You can, for example, log off the machine and let it rest for a while to avoid such overheating. Further, identifying a complication in one of your computers does not meet terms of return policies for all computers purchased with us. If the computer with the complication met our return policy terms then we would act on the specific computer only. In addition, our return policy provides for replacement of computers that fail to work within six months of purchase but overheating does not amount to failure to work and refund is not part of our return policy. I therefore wish to note that the realized overheating, together with our return policy, does not justify your claim. We shall therefore not be able to accept the computers or offer refund. The company however affirms its efforts to ensure quality products and to take responsibility for products that fail to function. Thanks for understanding and we look forward to further business encounters with

Contrast, Comparison, and Definition of Writing Style Essay

Contrast, Comparison, and Definition of Writing Style - Essay Example In this essay about Purchasing a Home, it stands quite right to define the concept of defining the idea of ‘Buying a House’ and what it may mean to different people. Definition essays also mean to illustrate the application of the terms that is sought to be defined hence, it is quite correct to want to define the concept of ‘purchasing a house’, before delving further into it. In this essay, although the terms ‘purchasing a house’ literally means to buy a house, however, the implications of buying a house may vary with different points of view. People may have their own reasons and needs to clarify the term. Emphasis can be laid on similarities of opinions while buying a house; wherein a certain class of people may or may not like a certain kind of house. On the basis of this, one can use the ‘Contrast Essay’ methodology onto this essay. One can accentuate the contrasts in this essay in a number of ways. For example, the advantages of one kind of house over the other or purchasing a house in an urban area as opposed to purchasing a house in a rural area. Contrasts can be made in the prices of houses that are being purchased. In fact, all areas of subjectivity can be issued to contrast essays. Usually, contrasting in this essay will involve analyzing the situations that are being put forth by the writer.

Capstone and Case Studies in Energy Technology Term Paper

Capstone and Case Studies in Energy Technology - Term Paper Example Human Performance and Anatomy of an Event In its simple definition, human performance is a string of actions and behaviors implemented to achieve definite task objectives and milestones (Department of Energy, 2007). In mathematical terms, human performance is behavior plus results. Behavior can be defined as the aggregate responses to internal and external stimuli (Dictionary, 2011). The study of behavior and its causes are exceedingly valuable as the indication for development efforts to foresee, prevent, and recover from human errors and events. A range of studies by the nuclear industry, the aircraft industry, and the National Safety Council synonymously found that: †¢ About 80% of all events are caused by human errors. 20% are the result of equipment failures. In some industries, the numbers are closer to 90% human error and 10% equipment failures. And, †¢ When we break down human errors, we find that 70% of all human error is the result of latent organizational weaknesses or errors within the organization, whereas about 30% are individual errors. Anatomy of an Event: Events or Accidents are unwelcome, undesirable variation in the systems that often result in severe degradation or annihilation of equipment’s capacity to perform its normal function. The course of an event usually revolves around initiating action, error precursors, latent organizational weaknesses and flawed defenses. The starting point of an accident is an initiating action that is done unintentionally or intentionally (violation), causing active errors that have immediate, undesirable outcomes to the whole process. This initiating action is scaled up with error precursors that are basically unfavorable pre-existing conditions at the event site hence increasing the vulnerability of the accident risk. Further more, the management of an accident or event are demented by latent organizational weaknesses such as inefficient management control, ineffective engineering design and control and other system level weaknesses. Flawed

The Effects of an Extended Day and Extended Year Elementary Schools on Dissertation

The Effects of an Extended Day and Extended Year Elementary Schools on Academic Achievement - Dissertation Example Curriculum, teachers, staffs, transportation and other developmental facilities are the other resources that are required for managing schools. Due to the scarcity of resources, members of the education department should ensure that time is best allocated in order to receive the highest benefits by incurring lesser costs. Thus, schools must focus on effective strategies for providing their basic objective of teaching children. However, apart from teaching, schools help to provide enhanced quality of education that enables people to interact communally and value ways to practice safe and healthy behaviors. Furthermore, effective schooling also helps in contributing reliably and ethically towards family, friends and community and to acquire basic knowledge about values and habits that are expected from an individual (Greenberg, Weissberg, Brien, Zins, Fredericks, Resnik & Elias, 2003). The essay will discuss the effects of an Extended Day and Extended Year Elementary Schools on the aca demic achievements of students. Moreover, it will discuss the different laws and school timings that differ from state to state or from country to country. The essay will also help to evaluate the various factors present in other countries whose students are believed to have the highest performance rates comparatively. Theory and current research using ALT Extended Learning Time (ELT) has evolved as an optional policy over the past periods, with increased interests in the future among various educational organizations. Extended learning is defined as lengthening of the school timing or period for all students studying in a particular school for enhancing the knowledge and skills by providing quality education to ensure students’ success. According to Farbman & Kaplan (2005), a research conducted by Massachusetts 2020 revealed that the continuous underperformance of primary and secondary public schools in the United States (US) prompted members of educational institutions to i ntroduce programmes for enhancing the performances of the students. Thus, ELT has been one of the preferred options for various institutional organizations which help students in gaining additional knowledge during non-schooling hours (Farbman & Kaplan, 2005). A research conducted by Chalkboard Project (2008) has revealed that ELT is beneficial to students who have various disadvantages or physical disabilities compared to children belonging to middle or high class societies. Moreover, the research suggested that ELT programs have been effectual during primary and secondary classes compared to middle schools. The report also revealed that ELT when compared to Extended School Year (ESY) is more cost-effective in providing quality education to students. However, in implementing ELT programmes successfully in institutional organizations, certain factors should be considered. The factors, such as having a bold leadership style, an environment that includes teachers’ commitment ef fective leadership, the programmes should be evidence based with sufficient data, engage support of parents, communities and partners along with providing focus on fundamental academics and improvement activities which are associated with other objectives and developments (Chalkboard Project, 2008). Thus, it can be stated that ELT programmes are effective, when implementing with consideration to the factors and addressing certain findings by the schools or

A Reflection on the Violence of the Current Times Essay Example for Free

A Reflection on the Violence of the Current Times Essay Wars and revolutions have been considered over the years as the most destructive choice that many nations have pushed through for the sake of fighting for their ideologies and interests. Just like the most aggressive natural disasters such as tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions, wars can end the lives of millions of innocent people in just a snap. All those ruthless bombing, deafening shootouts, and inhumane treatments among fighting nations are killing the world in such worse ways than natural disasters. This makes war as one of the most hated, resented, and feared concepts. However, it has also become one of the most tackled topics and themes in literature, allowing those who never experienced it to see a glimpse of its nature and reality. In James William Gibson’s article, Warrior Dreams, he talks about the feeling of being â€Å"unnamed† by a war that never became victorious. In the face of challenges and obstacles, this man who has been weakened by the fight seems to have formed illusions of invincible warrior heroes like Rambo, Dirty Harry and Jack Ryan (Gibson 625). An average and normal man would understand completely that the reality of being unmanned can be compared to a distressing situation in a man’s life where his greatest natural ability and strength are taken away: â€Å"Feeling unmanned by a war lost and by the rewriting of gender codes in the wake of the sexual revolution, millions of American men [†¦] began to dream, to fantasize about the powers and features of another kind of man who could retake and reorder the world† (Gibson 625). This would most certainly leave that person weak in his own awareness and belief; therefore, he will need something or someone—even an imaginary hero—from whom he can gain strength and an inspiration of invincibility. This, Gibson notes, can be one of the most potent roots of ruthless violence and inhumanity. Like many literary artists and sociologists who explored wars and revolutions in their works, Gibson admits that wars are practically naturally occurring events. He even claims that wars have divine histories as well — that during the ancient societies, even gods used wars as a way to set up the deified order of things: â€Å"These cosmogonic, or creation, myths posit a violent conflict between the good forces of order and the evil forces dedicated to the perpetuation of the primordial chaos. After the war in which the gods defeat the evil ones, they establish the sacred order† (Gibson 633). This claim, together with most of the academic claims about wars, implies that generally, wars are something which is innate in the tendencies of human beings and that war and violence appears to be never-ending exhibition of power by the humans—a power that they think they own. There are a lot of current issues and happenings that can be related to Gibson’s perspective on war and violence. Aside from the seemingly unending wars and violent acts rooted in religious conflicts and ideological clashes, Gibson’s discussion on the nature and reality of war and violence can also be exemplified in the case of a ruthless shooting in school done by mere adolescent boys rattled the entire nation — a nightmare that they never imagined to ever occur. It was a perfect spring morning in the fields of the Columbine High School in Jefferson County, Colorado. As the investigation revealed, the deaths of 13 innocent people were indeed done by two boys by the name of Eric Harris, 18 years of age and Dylan Klebold, 17 (Bradley). The two started packing their rigging weapons and bombs in their duffel bags on the morn of April 20, 1999. After preparing their weapons and god-knows-what, they headed to Columbine High School. It was past 11 in the morning when the first set of gunshots were heard by the students from the cafeteria and they immediately scooted under the table to protect themselves from what they cannot deny as danger. What followed next was a series of pointless, cold-blooded shooting and bombing by the two young gunmen. The police were immediately present in the area; however, they were not able to protect the lives of 13 innocent people who fell dead. After the shootings and bombing, when the police and the SWAT were finally ready to enter the campus, the gunmen, Harris and Klebold, ended their own lives. This was just one of the most gruesome and distressing violent acts the whole of America has witnessed over the years. However, what disturbed most Americans about this incident was the involvement of two young people as the gunmen themselves. After the incident, a lot of harsh critics passed the blame onto the media industry for their irresponsible broadcasting and insufficient monitoring and control with the messages and content they convey. A lot of parents not just grieved but also blamed every possible medium which they think has contributed to the growth of violent materials in the mass media industry and consequently affected the behavior of children. However, even to this date, no one can be really certain about what went on in Harris and Klebolds minds to do such a thing. But considering Gibson’s discussion on the nature and reality of wars and violence, one could infer that these two boys just had an urge of power exhibition in false knowing and understanding that they can control and change the order of the world. Works Cited Bradley, Ed. â€Å"What Really Happened At Columbine? † CBS News. 17 April 2001. 9 July 2009. http://www. cbsnews. com/stories/2001/04/17/60II/main286144. shtml. Gibson, James Wilson. â€Å"Warrior Dreams. † Title of the Book. Ed. First Name Last Name. Location: Publisher, Year. 625–633.

Evaluation Of Online Encyclopaedias English Language Essay

Evaluation Of Online Encyclopaedias English Language Essay This report evaluates the capabilities of three online Encyclopaedias: Wikipedia, Free Online Encyclopaedia Britannica and Encyclopaedia Americana. The evaluation is based on the APPARATUS assessment method that are given weights according to their relative importance to search capabilities, contents , used materials references credentials of author(s). The Encyclopaedias are rated based on these the APPARATUS assessment and the ratings tabulated at the end of the report to facilitate comparison. 2. Introduction In this report, we evaluated the APPARATUS assessment of three online Encyclopaedias : Wikipedia, Free Online Encyclopaedia Britannica and Encyclopaedia Americana. The evaluation focus on the following criteria: , Authority Objectivity 2) Purpose 3) Physical Production 4) Arrangement 5) Recency 6) Accuracy 7) Treatment 8) Users 9) Scope These criteria were weighed according to their relative importance to APPARATUS assessment . Ratings from 1 to 4 were assigned to respective features and tabulated. Wikipedia Wikipedia is an online free-content encyclopaedia that users can edit and contribute to.   Jimmy Wales, wikipedia co-founder, has pronounced Wikipedia as an effort to create and distribute a multilingual free encyclopaedia of the highest quality to every single person on the planet in his or her own language. Wikipedia is to bring knowledge to everyone who seeks it. Britannica Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica has been the worlds most valued reference source for over two centuries. Today Britannica provides a variety of products, intended to fit different users needs.If users want the full 32-volume Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica, an encyclopaedia for younger users, or educational teaching materials, Britannica provides an appropriate resource with features and enhancements. Encyclopaedia Americana Americana is one of the largest general encyclopaedias in the English language. Following the acquisition of Grolier in 2000, the encyclopaedia has been produced by Scholastic. It has articles on natural and exact sciences, on engineering and economics, in addition to on separate works of literature, music, and art. Many articles in the encyclopaedia are written from anti-Marxist and anti-communist viewpoints. As a rule it contains instructive articles, but there are also analysis articles most often about separate countries and centuries-for example, the articles The 18th Century and The 20th Century. Authority and Objectivity Wikipedia Wikipedia is an online free-content encyclopaedia that users can edit and contribute to. Jimmy Wales, wikipedia co-founder, has pronounced Wikipedia as an effort to create and distribute a multilingual free encyclopaedia of the highest quality to every single person on the planet in his or her own language. Wikipedia is to bring knowledge to everyone who seeks it. Wikipedia articles are all free content and their text is covered by the Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA) and in most cases the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL). The Wikimedia Foundation does not own copyright on Wikipedia article texts and illustrations. It is purposeless to email our contact addresses asking for approval to copy articles or images, even if rules at users company or school or organization order that user ask web site operators before copying their content. The only Wikipedia content users should contact the Wikimedia Foundation about is the trademarked Wikipedia/ Wikimedia logos, which will not be freely usable without permission. Wikipedia is available in languages other than English. Wikipedia has more than two hundred and eighty languages, including a Simple English version, and related projects include a dictionary, books, and scientific reference sources, quotations manuals and a news service (see sister projects). All of these are maintained, updated, and managed by separate communities, and often include information and articles that can be hard to find through other common sources. Britannica The editorial board is organized more than four thousand expert contributors, and the articles are written and continuously updated by a hundred full time editors. The authors, compilers, and editors are coming from different backgrounds like Nobel Laureates or Pulitzer Prize winners, expecting writers, artists, civil servants, scholars and activists. Some contributors in the record of the Britannica include Freud, Russell, Marie Curie, Einstein, Huxley and Shaw. Nowadays, the contributors are professors and domain experts in specific areas from Oxford, Harvard, Yale, University of Chicago and other reputable universities. Some contributors introduced their personal negative opinion on topics such as Hinduism so that the articles on Britannica have some cultural bias. A quote of the 11th edition will better help to understand these biases. The 9th edition onwards, the Britannica was widely considered to have the greatest authority of any general English language encyclopaedias especi ally because of its broad coverage and distinct or outstanding authors. Encyclopaedia Americana All articles are signed by the author, a leading authority in his/her field, chosen by a team of editors and advisors. Americana is one of the largest general encyclopaedias in the English language. This series has more than 45000 articles, most of them more than 500 words and many running to considerable length (the United States article is over 300,000 words). The works coverage of American and Canadian geography and history has been a traditional strength. The Encyclopaedia Americana is written by over 6000 contributors, and most articles are signed by their contributors. Controversial subjects are included with several references for abortion, homelessness, and homosexuality. The editors have striven for a balanced and objective viewpoint on all topics. Purpose Wikipedia Wikipedias purpose is to benefit readers by acting as an encyclopaedia, a comprehensive written compendium that includes information on all branches of knowledge. The goal of Wikipedia is to build a free encyclopaedia; indeed, the largest encyclopaedia in history, not only in terms of breadth but also in terms of depth and also want Wikipedia to be a reliable resource. The purpose of an encyclopaedia is to gather knowledge spread around the globe; to express its general system to the men with whom we live, and broadcast it to those who will come after us, so that the work of prior centuries will not become useless to the centuries to come; and so that our children, becoming better instructed, will at the same time become more worthy and happy, and that wiki cannot die without having provided a service to the human race. Many visitors come to Wikipedia to acquire knowledge, while others come to share knowledge. At this very moment, dozens of articles are being superior, and new articl es are also being created. Britannica The purpose of the online encyclopaedia Britannica is to be an excellent reference and to provide academic materials to students and researchers. For academic institutions, libraries, and corporations, Britannica provides Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica Online, a wealth of trusted, wide-ranging resources intended especially for serious researchers. This widely varied set of powerful resources makes Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica Online an essential addition to every academic, corporate, and research library. Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica Online School Edition presents Britannicas renowned educational resources in a student-friendly and engaging site designed especially for teachers and elementary, middle, and high school students. This unique resource brings together three encyclopaediasEncyclopà ¦dia Britannica, Britannica Student Encyclopaedia, and Britannica Elementary Encyclopaediato meet the needs of a variety of reading levels. In addition, a section specifically for teachers provides wor ksheets to support effective use of the Internet in the classroom. Encyclopaedia Americana The corporate purpose of Scholastic is to encourage the intellectual and personal growth of all children, beginning with literacy, the cornerstone of all learning. As well as more than 90 years of experience supporting the learning lives of children, today Scholastic remains committed to providing quality, engaging educational content in digital and print formats for the next generation of learners, and the families and educators who guide them. This encyclopaedia is intended for use as a general reference resource in schools, colleges, and public libraries. No American bias is detected. Physical production Wikipedia As for the largest Wikipedia, which is the English version, it includes around 3.8 million articles. All these documents are only in electronic format. Another feature of the toolbox is the Printable version. Use it whenever users want to print articles for a printer-friendly version of the article. Browsers (eg.Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explore) that will be familiar with the media print will automatically apply the printable version when printing with the default Mono book style sheet. There are more than 8000 active contributors working on more than 19 million articles which is a really large number of articles. It can compare to another project by the cofounder of Wikipedia called Citizendum. Its the short for of citizen compendium and is another online encyclopaedia project with tighter editing rules and higher reliability due to a close interaction between authors and editors. This means that Citizendum contains more reliable information but way less content (about 16 thousan d articles). Britannica Britannica usually prints a new set of the tomes every two years, but 2010s 32-volume set will be its last. Instead, the company will focus only on its digital encyclopaedia and education tools. The online version of the encyclopaedia, which was first published in 1994, represents only 15% of Britannicas revenue. The other 85% is sales of education products: online learning tools, curriculum products and more. Encyclopaedia Britannica brings to sudden stop of print publication after 244 years. The print version of the Britannica was considerably more expensive than its competitors. In general, the Internet tends to provide more current coverage than print media, due to the ease with which material on the Internet can be updated. Encyclopedia Americana Today, each year Americana released more than 600 titles for readers of all ages(0-18), in a variety of print and digital formats. Since 1926, when Scholastic published its first collection, Saplings, the Company has continued to release award-winning and best-selling books, ranging from beautifully-rendered titles for tots to holding reads that fascinate global audiences. Among those 600 are the amazingly successful publishing properties like Harry Potter, and Captain Underpants, Goosebumps, The 39 Clues, the beloved series Clifford the Big Red Dog, I Spy, Bone, Fly Guy, Dear America, Geronimo Stilton, The Magic School Bus, and The Hunger Games trilogy. The list of authors and illustrators consists of Tedd Arnold, Blue Balliett, Jim Benton, Meg Cabot, Patrick Carman, Suzanne Collins, Christopher Paul Curtis, Gordon Korman, Cynthia Lord, Ann M. Martin, Jon J Muth, Dav Pilkey, J.K. Rowling, Matthew Reinhart, Pam Muà ±oz Ryan, Allen Say, Brian Selznick, David Shannon, Jeff Smith, Magg ie Stiefvater, Mark Teague, and Walter Wick, among others a diverse list representing titles that span themes, ages, and geographies. Scholastic Trade division also publishes licensed properties such as Star Wars, Rainbow Magic, Its Happy Bunny, Lego, Chuggington, and Bob Books. Scholastic books have a reputation for gathering accolades and awards (including Caldecott Medals, National Book Awards, Newbery Medals, and Coretta Scott King Awards) and topping bestseller lists year upon year, and include memorable titles and series like The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, No, David!, Allie Finkles Rules For Girls, How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night?, Amulet, Star Wars: A Pop-Up Guide to the Galaxy, Wonderstruck, Smile, The Underland Chronicles, The Baby-sitters Club, Owen Mzee, The Guardians of GaHoole series, Chasing Vermeer, Charlie Bone, Zen Shorts, and the Shiver trilogy. Nearly ten years later, on July 21, 2007, Scholastic published the much-anticipated seventh and final book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, making publishing history with a record-breaking 8.3 million copies sold in the U.S. in the first 24 hours. More than 140 million copies of the Harry Potter books are in print in the United States; more than 400 million copies have sold worldwide. Arrangement Wikipedia Wikipedia has a good starting point at the summary of a topic, but its greatest value is its links to outside sources. As for Britannica, its a pathetic shadow of its old treeware self. Wikipedia also has many portals, which categorize content around topic areas; our best portals are collected as featured portals. Articles can be found using the search box on the top-right side of the screen. A representative article contains a main page, titled on the definite topic (I.e., UNESCO) and a second page is accessible to discuss the topic with other users. These pages can be read, edited or one can access the editing history. On the main article page, there is a short introduction on the topic, organized by a table of content that work as hyperlinks. To display articles, users can type a search in the search field or browse through the lists that include lists of countries and territories, of people, by nationality, by occupation. It also has alphabetical indexes sorted by the first two l etters of the title modified by subject or special categories. Each subpart includes an edit button so everything can be edited. Paragraphs contain several hyperlinked terms to further extend the information someone can get on the topic or related issues. The last part of the page is a list of reference, then external links and related articles. One of the lesser users known, especially useful, techniques for researching with Wikipedia is the effective use of the What links here link which is on the left side of the screen, as the first item in the box marked toolbox. This link will contribute users a complete list of other Wikipedia articles that link to the current article. Even if the article user are looking at is a stub or, more extraordinarily, if it is a blank article, several related articles may be easily accessible through this feature. Sometimes these backward links will show users ways in which the article users started from is incomplete in one area or another. An inter esting feature is a list of timelines (centuries, decades or the major events in a given year). It is remarkable to mention that there is no advanced search option but only a single option less normal search. Changes can be viewed at the recent changes page and a random page at random articles. Over 3,500 articles have been designated by the Wikipedia community as featured articles, exemplifying the best articles in the encyclopaedia. Another 15,000 articles are designated as good articles. Some information on Wikipedia is organized into lists; the best of these are designated as featured lists. Britannica The Britannica includes 33 volumes. It separated into three main sections; volumes from 1-12 (Micropedia) which covered the short articles set (less than 750 words) that focuses on ready reference questions. Volumes from13-29 (Macropedia) containing longer articles (2+ pages) with more in-depth information. Volume 30 (Propedia), a one volume covers 10parts of knowledge (Matter and energy, The Earth and life on it, Human life, Human society, Arts, Technology, Religion, History of mankind, and Branchesof Knowledge) , this volume summaries of contains all human knowledge.  The topic in each section in (Micropedia, Macropedia) arranged alphabetically letter by letter. This Britannica is connected with facebook, twitter, youtube, newsletters, RSS, Widgets. When I browsed through the articles, each EB article was overwhelmed by as many as 8 Airtel ads per page, depending on the length of the article/page. If users would like to avoid ads, sign up for a subscription form. There is a norma l search and an advanced search. If we want to narrow down or broaden the results, the advanced search option uses Boolean operator like AND, OR, NOT, using other options. In the field of research tools users can change different options such as:  compare countries, this day in history, timeline, world atlas, world data analyst. There is also a spotlight section, where we can see the special features of the encyclopaedia. Each list has its own features, so for the videos, images audio list, the requested result is displayed including naturally images, audio recordings and video files so that user can comprehend the topic more easily. Users can contribute to their browsing history, relating articles in terms of type, description, date, and contributor. Users can get information about the primary contributors and other contributors in the list of contributor. It is also possible to browse a dictionary or thesaurus to search the meaning of words. In the last part, widgets shows info rmation of history of event and people related to the requested article and various date. The results are also displayed like a table of contents, where users can conveniently select the sub-menu of their choice for a more efficient browsing. An interesting feature is that the author of the article can give his or her purpose to the readers. Indeed, the online encyclopaedia Britannica academic edition have got the teachers choice award, 2007 2008 SIIA CODiE winner because of its structured and organized contents, secure environment for internet research, and  «Ã‚  neutral perspectives  Ã‚ » (as we mentioned this neutral perspective is subject to discussion).   Encyclopaedia Americana Articles are composed of alphabetically, using the word-by-word system. If two or more articles have the same heading they are ordered by person, place, and thing. Each entry begins with a large bold-faced heading, and may be further sub-divided by smaller bold-faced sub-headings. Longer articles include a contents box for quicker searching, with an information highlights box. Cross-references may be provided in the text or at the end of  article. A bibliography is included at the end of an article when appropriate. Users can choose among five customized interfaces that meet specialized needs and the reading and interest levels of the user. The five interfaces are: 1) Elementary School interface 2) Middle School interface 3) High School interface 4) Adult Patron interface 5) Librarians/Educators interface. Each interface composes of features and returns search results based on reading levels tied to three core differentiated domains: Elementary School, Middle School, and High Schoo l/Adult Patron. A pronunciation key and a list of abbreviations used in the encyclopaedia are included at the beginning of each volume. Recency (Currentness) Wikipedia In October 2012, there are editions of Wikipedia in 285 languages. It has become the largest and most popular general reference work on the Internet, standing sixth globally among all websites on Alexa and having an estimated 365 million readers worldwide. In 2011, Wikipedia received an estimated 2.7 billion monthly page views from the United States alone. Wikipedia has taken a great deal of criticism in the press for problems relating to the trustworthiness of its authors and its general responsibility. Britannica Many people know Britannica as the publisher of those big multivolume encyclopaedias that have been a source of joy and learning since 1768. Today that encyclopaedia is chiefly to be found in a multitude of digital forms that are updated daily. The online encyclopaedia Britannicas home page is updated every day with the breaking news and revised articles from New York Times. Britannica also marks the contribution of users by presenting the comments they left on articles. The updating of the content is subject to the editorial boards policy. The updating are quite fast and the content is revised more regularly than the printed version. Now Britannia is also available as Online School Edition, so its not completely behind Wikipedia. Today this Britannica extremely expanded with schools, parents, and educators, designing products for the 21st-century classroom and todays home learning environments. Britannica is a creator in digital education, and their products are marked by engaging a nd reliable content. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc, have announced that it will stop publishing its 32-volume print edition (retail value $1400) after 244 years, and instead focus on its digital versions. The Encyclopaedia Britannica is a general knowledge book brought out first in three volumes in 1768 by three people. Encyclopaedia Americana Today, Scholastic is the largest publisher and distributor of childrens books in the world, with a collection of titles that entertain and support childrens wide-ranging interested and stages of reading development. Whether its a graphic novel or a board book, a future dystopian setting or a look back in history, our books help young readers explore their imaginations and become lifelong lovers of books. Information is up-to-date for the time of publication. Accuracy Wikipedia Wikipedia has taken a number of positive steps to help develop and maintain the accuracy and objectivity of Wikipedia entries. Its important to note that Wikipedia articles are in a state of constant flux and there is the potential for vandalization. Wikipedia with an open nature has directed to various concerns, such as the quality of writing, the amount of vandalism and the accuracy of information. Some articles have unconfirmed or unreliable information, although a 2005 investigation in Nature presented that the science articles they compared came close to the level of accuracy of Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica and had a similar rate of serious errors. Wikipedia had a rule against using original research that some claim discourages participation by scholars and experts. Nevertheless, those same scholars and experts are able to participate in the writing of articles and linking to supporting documents on the web. Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has always maintained that the service and its community are set up a self-policing and self-cleaning nature that is supposed to ensure its articles are accurate. Britannica Since the articles are written by professors and experts from in their respective fields we can confidently conclude that the content is accurate. It also is satisfactorily up-to-date. The sentence structure is also organized very well. In a press release, Jorge Cauz, President Encyclopaedia Britannica says Britannica Online includes abundant information along with gorgeous multimedia, and that makes it an excellent match for Bharti Airtels broadband service. There are eight serious errors, such as general misunderstandings of vital concepts, in the articles but users can find a series of factual errors, omissions or misleading statements. Wikipedia had 162 such problems, while Britannica had 123. The averages are 2.92 mistakes per article for Britannica and 3.86 for Wikipedia. Britannica came out looking a little bit more accurate than Wikipedia. the error rate for each encyclopaedia was not insignificant, and added that he thinks such numbers demonstrate that broad review of encycl opaedia articles is needed. Britannica is more reliable than Wiki. However, the content is not necessarily in-depth. While searching for Singapore, the article does not mention the Marina Bay Sands or who the president is. In comparison, the recent marriage of Prince William is largely covered. Encyclopaedia Americana The 30 volume publication contains tens of thousands of articles written to serve the educational community as a bridge between the general reader and the specialist. Articles are accurately presented in easy to understand language, and are aimed at all learners and educators, from the young student to teachers and librarians. When an author is chosen to write an article, he/she is reminded that the objective of the publication is to present facts and interpretations to the non-specialist reader, as well as explain technical terms in an understandable manner. Before publication, each article is reviewed by the editors to ensure accuracy of information and vocabulary, spelling and sentence structures that it satisfies these objectives. In the new edition, the Editor has make an afforded to limit the work to its legal purpose the presentation of knowledge with faithfulness and with scholarly objectivity, avoiding the promotion of theories and such discussions and protections as are wh olly strange to the character and nature of an encyclopaedia. Every effort has been made to protect not only accuracy of statement but also fairness and correctness of view. Treatment Wikipedia The editing guidelines also mention a manual of style that provides detailed guidance to help editors to use a reliable, clear and exact language and layout. It is recommended to avoid jargon or vague or unnecessarily complex wording. Usually if any jargon or concept is used in an article, it will be hyperlinked to the matching Wikipedia page on this term. Regarding as the importance of the term, it finally attains a Wikipedia article of its own, which is nearly always linked to. It is usually clarified with more known terms. There is no range of English specification except for quotations, proper names, titles of works such as books, films, or songs where the original spelling must be kept. Articles on precise comparison of variety of English can feature different spellings. In addition, the guidelines mention that several citation styles are possible, namely the main recognized styles such as APA or MLA. The users can also give a rate the article according to its perceived trustwor thiness, objectivity, completeness and whether it was well-written, the user can also mention whether users are knowledgeable on the topic . Britannica As this encyclopedia have for many years, by cooperating with experts, scholars, educators, instructional designers, and user-experience specialists; by subjecting their work to hard editorial review; and by combining it all into learning products that are useful, reliable, and enjoyable. Each edition of the Britannica is written and updated by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,400 contributors. It is regarded as one of the most scholarly of English language encyclopaedias and remained roughly the same size for the past 70 years, consisting of 40 million words on a half-million different topics. The current 15th edition, published in 2010, consists of 32 volumes a two-volume index, a 12 volume Micropaedia, and a 17 volume Propaedia. The online edition costs a lot less, with a basic subscription running at $17 per year or $1.99 per month, compared to $1,395 for the 32-volume print version. The company has been providing online editions of its encyclopaedia for 20 years, wit h more than 65% of its online sales coming from educational institutions; the online edition is updated continually. The goal is to expand its appeal to consumers. With that move, Britannica is taking on Wikipedia. Although publication has been based in the United States since 1901, the Britannica has maintained British spelling. Its three-volume first edition was published in 1768-71 in Edinburgh, Scot. In subsequent editions it grew in size and reputation. The most famous editions include the ninth (1875-89), known as the scholars encyclopaedia, and the 11th (1910-11), which, with contributions from more than 1,500 experts of world reputation, was also the first to divide the usually long treatises into more specified articles. The current edition, the 15th (1974, with a major revision in 1985), exemplified a new structure, dividing the major articles from the shorter ones. Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica now also appears in CD-ROM and on-line versions. A series of ownership changes le ad to its purchase by American publishers in 1901; since the 1940s it has been published in Chicago. Almost all articles are written in simple and widespread way, but particularly for the science and technology, users can see technological jargons, as this is addressed more to the educated users. It uses MLA and APA citation styles. Encyclopedia Americana The index also lists thousands of entries for which there are no separate articles, but does provide listings of articles that cover the subject. In all cases, volume and page numbers are provided for easy look-up. In 1902 a new version in 16 volumes that carried over some of the old material was published under the title Encyclopaedia Americana, under the editorial supervision of Scientific American magazine. The magazines editor, Frederick Converse Beach, was editor-in-chief, to be assisted by hundreds of famous scholars and authorities who served as consulting editors or authors. The first publisher was R.S. Peale Co; between 1903 and 1906 further editions were issued by the Americana Corp. and the Scientific American Compiling Department, with George Edwin Rines appointed managing editor in 1903. The relationship with Scientific American was terminated in 1911. From 1907 to 1912, the work was published as The Americana. A major new edition appeared in 1918-20 in 30 volumes, with George Edwin Rines as editor-in-chief. An Annual or Yearbook was also published each year beginning in 1923 and continuing until 2000.The sentence structure is very simple with easy understanding vocabulary. The meaning and simple sentence structure can clarify the complexity of expressed thoughts. It seldom use jargons words in the Americana. User Wikipedia Wikipedia aims to be user friendly and accessible to all. The main resource is in English but if the user doesnt speak English, he or she can access it in another language, though the content will be more limited. The English text of the CC-BY-SA and GFDL licenses is the only legally binding restriction between authors and users of Wikipedia content. What follows is our interpretation of CC-BY-SA and GFDL, as it pertains to the rights and obligations of users and contributors. Britannica The online encyclopaedia Britannica is a general encyclopaedia so that it is not only targeted to the intellectual levels such as students, teachers, librarians, and administrators but also targeted the kids. The Britannica websites are general audience sites, intended for Users (visitors and subscribers) of all ages. If a user is a California resident, he/she is entitled to prevent sharing of his/her personal information with third parties for his/her own marketing purposes through a cost-free means. If users send a request to Britannica Customer Service, Britannica will provide users with a California Customer Choice Notice that they may use to opt-out of such information sharing. Now all Airtel Broadband customers in India can take a 2 year free subscription to Encyclopaedia Britannica (worth Rs.6575). Specifically, there are three models for them: students encyclopaedia (age 11 and above), childrens encyclopaedia (age 8-11), and thesaurus and dictionary. In the latter, articles t o be browsed are subjects related to their curriculum. EB is absolutely the biggest authoritative resource of information with over 100 million users. Users are able to visit many of website pages without informing who they are or revealing any information about themselves. Users contin

Open Source vs Closed Source Systems

Open Source vs Closed Source Systems INTRODUCTION For many years, proprietary software has been the dominating business approach used by the commercial software firms. Industry giants like Microsoft proved this strategy to be successful, building their multibillion dollar empires based on the proprietary software platform. Over the past decade, a new business approach called open source model which involves contributors from around the globe to create, share and distribute software code for free had come into practice (Pal, N Madanmohan, TR., 2002). Although the roots to this practice of sharing code evolved since early 60s, the widespread usage of internet and the technology developments in past two decades opened new opportunities for open source projects (CNET news, 1998). A number of Open Source Software (OSS) products such as Apache web server, BIND and SendMail have dominated their product categories ever since then (Pal, N Madanmohan, TR., 2002). In the past decade, several researchers (Wheeler, DA., 2007; Mockus, et al., 2000) have taken interest in studying how open source can be applied to modern business strategies. However, a concern exists that in this area of study that there is no substantial evidence that the practices followed are effective in the business environment (Bitzer Schrà ¶der, 2004). For economists like Lerner Tirole (2000), the altruism shown by commercial companies and programmers involved in an open source software project is surprising. They stated altruism hasnt played a major role in any other industry than software. Several others like Freeman Rogers (2008) and Goetz (2003) contradict this statement by illustrating altruism exist in any industry provided there is proper exposure of the problem towards the contributing community. But most of the researches surrounding open source model considered software industry as the base for their studies. 1.0 SCOPE OF THE PROJECT 1.1 Objective This project work focuses on the study of the Open Source ecosystem (Android) how it differs from Closed source sustems such as those surrounding the iPhone. This project includes the study of the Android Market, (online mobile application store for Android users) application developers, and which factors developers consider for selecting a platform for application development. To understand business strategy development trends across Android and iPhone platforms, we compared the Android market with the iPhone App Store, the leading application store in current mobile market. Apple launched an online application marketplace called the â€Å"iPhone App Store† before launching iPhone 3G. Currently, this store has more than 195,000 applications. To match or surpass the success of iPhone App Store, Apple rivals such as Google and Blackberry introduced their own application downloading stores called â€Å"Android Market† and â€Å"Blackberry App World† respectively. T he Android Market is similar to the iPhone App Store or to any other application store; it boasts a catalog of applications,  services and tools available for the user to purchase download and use. Today, the Android Market also has around 49,000 applications. Thus, the comparison between iPhone and Android application stores will help explain the new challenges faced by these two application stores, and also the demand for these stores in the near future. This study will help understand why Android choose Open Source System and why Apple doesnt, what determines their success, which large companies are directly involved in developing applications for Android, and which factors they consider for developing an application. 1.2 Experimental Procedures This project is based on a semi-automatically collected application database and   surveys to obtain necessary information for proving the hypothesis. (A) Website Data Firstly, application data were collected semi-automatically from the Android Market and iPhone App Store (iTunes store) and other mobile applications related websites, for e.g., Androlib.com, iPhoneapplicationlist.com. This gathered application database includes a list of the application categories on both platforms, number of applications in each category, and application information for the selected categories. (B) Interview Data Next, we interviewed mobile application developers to understand and know their views about Android/iPhone platforms and the ecosystem. To get in touch with mobile application developers, we attended the mobile conferences where they gather to share their views. (C) Survey Data Lastly, all the relevant facts about application developers from the interview data helped us prepare a survey. This web-based survey was prepared and conducted using Survey Monkey. 1.3 Resources Utilized The main resources used during this project were our industrial advisor, our academic reader, Android and iPhone application database, interviews and surveys from mobile application developers. 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction of Literature Review In order to achieve success in project implementation, the first step is to research and find information already available. During research, we found many articles related to our topic. This paper is based on the content from these articles. We have divided this section in four main areas: Overview of the Open Source Operating Systems (Android). Overview of the Closed Source Operating Systems (Apple IOS). Fundamentals behind the Open Source Platform. Introduction to the Smartphone. 2.2 Overview of the Open Source Operating Systems (Android). Google has achieved something remarkable with its open-source Android operating system. SinceApples iPhonerevolutionised thesmartphonein June 2007, bringing touchscreens and a beautiful user experience to the masses, its been without a rival. Sure, theres a small legion of BlackBerry fans, and a few Nokia die-hards, but the critical consensus up until about a year ago was that the iPhones achievements were peerless. EnterAndroid. The free, open-source mobile operating system was introduced to consumers with theHTC Dream(also known as theT-Mobile G1) in late 2008, but didnt start gaining steam until the release of theHTC Heroin July 2009. The Hero, armed with a custom user interface called Sense that HTC built in-house, gained rave reviews for its high-end specs and faultless user experience, and appeared on many critics lists of the best gadgets of 2009. The whispers began: Had Google managed to create a platform that genuinely rivalled the iPhone for the best smartphone experience around? This success is starting to show in the numbers. In February 2010, Google announced that more than 60,000 phones with Android on were shipping each day. The Android App Market is also booming, housing more than 30,000 downloadable applications in March 2010, although thats still comparably small when set beside the 185,000 or so Apple has in its App Store. But where once companies had to have an iPhone app, its now understood that they need to offer both an iPhone and an Android variant. Manufacturers havent let the opportunity pass them by, either. At the time of writing, there are around 35 mobile phones, five tablet PCs, three e-book readers and a netbook available that come with Android installed a total of about 43 devices. But thats nothing compared to the amount of gadgets that are purportedly in the works. If you tot up the rumours, statements of intent, leaked documents and roadmapped products from manufacturers, you can add at least another 15 smartphones, 19 tablet PCs, two e-book readers and three more netbooks to the pile. When you combine the totals, you arrive at a figure of at least 82 Android devices either released or in development. The platform has received four major updates since the HTC Dream launched with Android 1.0. Version 1.5 brought camcorder functionality and the ability to use homescreen widgets. Version 1.6 added voice search and a better Android App Market. Then version 2.0 revamped the user interface, added new, larger screen sizes, as well as navigation support in Google Maps. The latest update is version 2.1, which debuted on theNexus One a handset built by HTC but to specifications dictated by Google itself. Android 2.1 brings additional homescreens, animated wallpapers and the ability to use voice recognition to type in all text fields very useful if youre in a situation where you cant use an on-screen keypad, such as when driving. Other devices are starting to appear with version 2.1 as well the Motorola Droid, known as theMilestone in Europe, recently received an update to 2.1, and HTCs forthcoming Legend and Desire handsets come with it installed. Oldhardware=nonewtricks However, the new features available in 2.1 come with increased demand on the relatively weak processors found in most smartphones, particularly in the earlier Android devices. As a result, some handsets cant run later versions of Android at satisfactory speed. Even in those that can, manufacturers have been exceptionally slow at rolling out updates to their device owners, with HTC still not having delivered any update above 1.5 for its Hero at the time of writing. Its difficult to fault Google for wanting to update its core platform as fast as it can. The problem is that its going so fast that manufacturers cant roll out updates to their own software at a speed to match. The upshot for users is that early Android adopters are stuck on two-year contracts looking mournfully at all the fun that new device owners can get, with no knowledge as to whether theyll eventually have access to the new features themselves. This isnt anything new in most cases other manufacturers dont grant older gadget owners access to new features but its tough on Android users in particular because the pace of the updates is so fast. A phone can be out-of-date within months of its release, and in some cases handsets are still arriving with Android version 1.6 installed. App developers suffer, too. Many of Googles home-grown applications Maps, Earth, Goggles and Gesture Search were initially only released for the 2.0 and 2.1 platforms. Some have since gained backwards compatibility to 1.6, but HTC Hero owners, running 1.5, still cant use them. App developers have a tough choice to make: support as wide a range of phones as possible, or offer an app with superior features, but only to those running the latest Android builds. Situationnormal: Allforkedup So what can Google do about the problem? The company is stuck with four slightly different variants of its platform in the wild, and its got a splintered marketplace where one Android user cant necessarily access the same apps that another can, and its confusing and frustrating for end users. The obvious way ahead is to try and force manufacturers to update the software on their devices. Any device running 1.5 should be able to cope with 1.6, and a 2.0 device will manage 2.1. While that still leaves the problem of devices that cant quite cope with the most recent updates, Google should be able to merge its four shards into two a set of 1.6 devices and a set of 2.1 devices simplifying the situation somewhat. However, that relies on the goodwill and resources of a diverse set of companies, and some of those will only have dipped a toe into the waters of Android, meaning that they might be less keen to start devoting significant staff time to mucking around with operating system updates. So Googles got another trick up its sleeve. Recent rumours suggest that the company, in the upcoming version 2.2 update, is planning to de-couple the various applications that run on the device from the operating system itself. The browser, email apps, contacts, input methods and various other components will be downloadable and, crucially, updatable through the Android market rather than needing to wait for a full OS update to be upgraded. When Google wants to update the Gmail app, it can just push a market update, rather than forcing customers to wait for HTC, Dell, Samsung or other manufacturers to approve it. If Google fails to unify the Android platform, a future looms where Android is stuck in a series of ghettoes, with no guarantee that one Android user will be able to run the same apps as another unless they buy a new device every six months. Thats good news for manufacturers, but very bad news for Google and for consumers. If Google manages the transition successfully however, then a unified (or at least consolidated) platform could be easily updated by both Google and phone-makers, depending on whether the update is a critical security issue or a new feature in an application. Time is pressing. The fate of Android rests on what Google does over the summer of 2010. Will the platform fall by the wayside, or will it instead grow to be the Windows of smartphones, carefully balancing openness to app developers with a superior user experience and mass-market appeal? On past form, it seems foolish to bet against Google. Let us also look at the SORT analysis for android: Being a self declared Google and Android fanboy, Im constantly reading and studying about cloud computing and the mobile marketplace whenever I have the opportunity. Ive even begun the very first steps of beginning to learn programming Java for the Android platform, although this is a ‘free time endeavor which is going to take quite some time for me to get even the basic level of proficiency achieved. 2.2.1 SWOT Analyses for GOOGLE ANDROID But one area where I feel comfortable in discussion and analysis is in the business realm, which is why I decided to do a basic SWOT analysis for Google Android. It is a tool used in strategic planning to evaluateStrengths,Weaknesses,Opportunities, andThreats involved in a project or business. A companys Strengths and Weaknesses are generally internal, while the Opportunities and Threats are external factors. To spare most of the readers of this analysis, this SWOT is going to be a little less in depth than a typical SWOT analysis. However, it will be detailed enough to outline and discuss what I feel are the key items in each area of the analysis. STRENGTHS The Google Brand-Google is one of the most well known and respected technology companies on the planet. The fact that they are behind the Android platform gives it credibility and viability in the eyes of potential partners, vendors, and developers. Device Selection-Unlike the Apple iPhone where you dont have any options of hardware suppliers other than Apple itself, the Android OS is open-source and any hardware manufacturer who chooses to do so can use it on their handset. This gives consumers a great deal of selection from which to choose from while also decreasing the lead time to the use of the latest hardware and technological advances in mobile electronics. Competitive Pricing-The Android OS is very cost effective to develop for since it is open source and the licensing arrangements are very vendor friendly. Thus, handsets utilizing the Android OS tend to be prices very aggressively. Google application and services integration-The fact that the Android platform integrates so many of the Google services and applications into its base only strengthens its core capabilities and usefulness. Google items such as GMAIL, Calendar, Reader, Listen, and of course GPS and Maps to name a few integrate seamlessly with the Android OS and make it very simple for users to synchronize their data across platforms from the desktop to the cloud and mobile platforms. Open Source-The Android OS is built from a Linux base using the JAVA Programming language. You can go directly to the http://source.android.com website and find the information and source code you need to build a compatible device for Android. Additionally, Android is a core part of the OHA (Open Handset Alliance) which is a group of companies working together to develop Android as an open and free mobile platform. Google Assets-The Android team(s) has all the intellectual, economic, and influential resources of Google at its disposal to make it a dominant player in the mobile marketplace. WEAKNESSES Multimedia Support-Unlike the Apple iPhone which has the enormously popular iTunes application and marketplace, Android does not have a central or cohesive source of multimedia material nor a centralized player. Although there have been some improvements in applications on the Android platform in this area, at this time there is no â€Å"the† place to go that comes even slightly close to what Apple can offer on this front. However, there are numerous rumors to what exactly Google has in store for a music service of its own to be released sometime in late 2010. Whatever it is, it needs to be extremely well executed to come close to what iTunes offers Apple iPhone users. The one large asset Google has going for it is YouTube, and their recent announcement ofWebM(VP8) could become a lever for multimedia influence in video delivery for Google and the Android OS. Reliance on hardware makers to upgrade-Apple controls the when and how iPhone users will get not only new hardware, but upgrades to the OS and core functionality. With Android, even when Google releases a new version of its OS, it has to wait for the manufacturers to thoroughly test and modify code to make sure it works properly on their specific hardware configuration. Google is addressing this issue as it has announced that it plans to implement more of the core features of its services into the Android OS itself instead of as applications, and to slow down the upgrade releases as the OS matures in the marketplace. Less Mature-Android is not as mature or as polished as the iPhone at this point. It improves with every release, but it hasnt reached the same level of overall user friendliness in its interface that Apple has achieved. Lack of Enterprise Support-Blackberry and even Microsoft still get most of the support when it comes to Enterprise usage. Although both Apple and Google have made some inroads in this marketplace, Android has a very small market share here. It needs to continue to develop Google Apps and its integration abilities with Microsoft Exchange. OPPORTUNITIES The Android OS has a â€Å"HUGE† opportunity to get into the Tablet and e-book reader platform market right now. It cannot afford to sit back and watch Apple dominate the tablet market and eat up the market share as it had done when it released the iPhone. To date, that is exactly what is happening as no major hardware ‘mover and shaker has released an Android based tablet which is a fantastic opportunity if it is executed properly. I want one NOW! There have been several minor releases of Android tablets over the last few months, but none of them are what I would consider a significant product. Either Google itself or someone such as HP, Dell, ASUS, or ACER need to release a killer Android tablet in order for it to gather any traction. These waters only became murkier when HP acquired PALM. Developing Countries-Google has a huge opportunity to develop inexpensive devices using the Android platform in developing countries. The licensing is extremely developer friendly and the upfront cost investments are significantly less than other platforms. The integration with so many of Googles other free services is a natural fit in this marketplace. Developer Friendly-Unlike the recent activities of Apple which has alienated and ticked off much of the developer community, developing for Android is very open and developer friendly. Google needs to take this opportunity to help developers continue to monetize their efforts through improved advertising revenue models and app sales. Growth of smartphone market-The smartphone market is still very immature and there is still a huge amount of growth to take place over the next several years to decade. Google needs to continue to work hard to position itself with its cloud computing applications and services in support of the Android OS. The marriage of these two areas is key to the maintained growth rate and increased market share potential of the Android platform. Embedded electronic devices-The Android OS has huge potential to be a major player in the embedded electronic market as a dominate embedded operating system. With so many devices becoming embedded with smart technologies and connectivity to the cloud, the Android OS is primed to be a major winner there. THREATS iPhone unleashed-If the iPhone is unleashed from the beaten down ATT network and appears on other networks such as Sprint and in particular, Verizon, it could be a real threat to the sustained rate of future market share growth for the Android OS. A significant amount of potential smartphone customers said they would buy an iPhone if it werent on the ATT network. (I was once in this camp, until I discovered the world of Android.) Apple dominance-Apples market share gives it a great influence over developers and old media companies who are dying for a revenue model that will work for them. The ever growing walled garden that Apple is building is a false panacea that the old media companies are holding onto with both hands-the ability to charge users for access to premium content. Apples recent changes in policy and functional restrictions make it the ideal platform to launch such a strategy and recruit the power brokers from this old model. Additionally, the â€Å"theres an app for that† and Im willing to pay for it behavior of Apple iPhone users is of great appeal to developers who see the dollar signs in this market. (Ive yet to pay for an application on Android) This gives Apple influence over developers and makes their huge market share very difficult to walk away from, even when they adopt very unfriendly developer policies. Increased Competition-Obviously, companies like RIM and Microsoft are going to fight for their share of the market and arent going to just give up. In particular, the Blackberry platform which still has huge support in the enterprise market. Platform Fragmentation-This is a huge threat to the Android platform. Although I listed the numerous devices as a strength above, the risk of fragmentation is a real and significant one. This is why Google has recently put a lot of effort into developing ways to minimize this problem. Google does not want numerous custom version of Android to emerge or fork off from their core platform, which is something you see in the Linux distribution network. Google is developing a set of baseline standards for compatibility for its platform. Since Google controls the Android Market, it can maintain significant influence over device vendors to meet the compatibility requirements. If you do a little research on this topic, you will see that Googles standards are fairly rigid, maybe more so than one would expect. Google also plans to adopt aonce-per-yearrelease schedule as well. None the less, managing this risk is a major and real threat to the Android platform. So there you have it, my basic SWOT analysis for Google Android. One underlying issue I feel is worth noting is that Google does not have to dominate, and as much as so many of us would love to see it, it does not have to â€Å"beat† Apple in market share or any other core metric. The only thing Google needs to do is to make sure there is an open platform large enough in the mobile market for its advertising business. Lets face it; Google is not about selling Android devices. Google is about search and advertising, and Apples closed system was a threat to that model which has become even more self-evident over the last six to nine months of Apple policies and maneuverings. Apple recently announced their own Ad network for the iPhone and iPad which could be viewed as a shot across the bow of Google which puts even more necessity on the Android platforms success. The clear advantage that Google has going for itself right now is that Apple (Steve Jobs) is either being indignant o ver what cloud computing actually does and means, or he truly doesnt understand or hasnt figured out how its suppose to work. Considering how intelligent Steve Jobs is, I find it highly unlikely that the second option is the reason, and that his stubbornness and willingness to maintain personal grudges as the likely culprit. 2.3 Overview of the Closed Source Operating Systems (Apple IOS). If theres one company that is the envy of the high-tech community these days, its Apple. Steve Jobs is hailed as a genius CEO and lauded for a string of hit products. Apples market capitalization is over $200 BILLION dollars currently, easily ranking it in the top 10 companies in the world by market cap, and just shy of Microsoft for biggest technology company. Everyone wants to understand the secrets of Apples success and hopefully emulate them. The reasons given by people for Apples success are many. The following are a few of the arguments made: Vertical integration- Apple owns most of, if not the entire, technology stack for its key products, and thus gives it advantages over other less vertically integrated products. NOTE: â€Å"Vertical integration† used to be called â€Å"being proprietary† and was given as the reason for Apples relative lack of success against Microsoft in the OS/PC battles of the 80s and 9os. But phenomenal success has a way of changing peoples minds. Making markets vs. addressing markets- Some claim that Apple doesnt ask people what they need but gives them products they decide theywant. Does anyone NEED an iPhone or iPad? Not really, but a lot of people seem to want them. The Cool Factor- Lets face it, Apple does make â€Å"cool† products. Attention to design and detail-fit and finish as they say-really distinguishes Apples products from competitors. Entering markets after theyve developed— Contrary to #2 above, some people claim that Apple doesnt make markets but enters existing markets once theyre growing and takes advantage of latent demand. The iPod was not the first digital music player and the iPhone was not the first smart phone, and the iPad is not the first portable computing device. In the case of the iPad, products like the Kindle and Netbooks actually paved the way for the market to accept small computing devices, and Apples iPad is riding that wave. Differentiated business models- whether it was iPod+iTunes or the iPhone+App Store, Apple innovates not just on technology, but on the business model. This makes it difficult for competitors to play catch up, let alone overtake Apple once it establishes itself in a dominant position. People care about the experience not technology— Apple has always been about the user experience, but for a long time, the majority of the market didnt care about that. The majority of desktop computer users cared about â€Å"techs and specs†. Now the tables have turned, and the majority dont care about the specs, they care about the experience. The iPod, with its â€Å"1000 songs in your pocket† motto and iTunes which radically simplified purchasing music latched onto the experience wave, and Apple has been riding it ever since. Simple product offerings- Apple has a very clear and simple set of products. Its easy to understand the differences between their products, product families and the various configurations. This makes it easy to buy an Apple product if you want to. A lot of companies complicate things unnecessarily. How many iPhone models are there? How many Blackberry models are there? How many Nokia smart phone models are there? See the difference between Apple, RIM and Nokia? The same is true for the iMAc, the iPod and the iPad. Granted, there are actually a number of iPod models (Nano, Shuffle, Touch etc.) but they are very distinct amongst themselves. This cant be said for digital music players from other companies. 2.3.1 Apple Competitive Analysis: Future Goals Apple has been and continues to focus on what its competitors are doing in order to keep a competitive strategy. Steve Jobs wanted to create a brand loyal name and to also produce a personalized computer with many features that would allow your life to be easier. Apple needed to keep up with rapid price cuts of its competitors personalized computers that were based on other operating systems. They wanted to focus on the rapid technological advances in both hardware and software that would boost their computers performance and provide its own operating systems. By doing so, the iMac-personalized computer was introduced in 1997 and they were able to create the brand loyalty they were looking for. They want to continue to build the brand loyal name and keep giving the consumer what they want to make their lives easier. Current Strategy Steve Jobs has recognized that many of its competitors have been providing computers that rely heavily on other operating systems to run their computers. For example, Dell computers rely on windows XP, and many of their software products rely on other partys. What Steve Jobs has managed to do is to incorporate its own operating systems, hardware, and software programs for its entire product line. The software that they have created would allow the user to edit videos, download and play music, edit pictures, etc. with all of their own products and applications. While other competition relied on outside companies introducing their own digital and distribution music product services, subscription services, and free peer-to-peer music services; Apple has created a way to counter the constant changing competitive market. They have done so by effectively integrating all three services that its competitors have to choose from by creating the iPod for hardware, iTunes for software, and iTune s Music Store for the third party distribution services. Apple has been able to eliminate its reliance on outside companies and to keep on creating specialized programs for consumers. Another factor that has helped keep Apples future thriving is by introducing the Apple Store. Customers are now able to take their products into the store and have an apple specialist examine/work on the products that they are heavily invested in. Most competitors would have the consumer take computer/product to a tech department of a store or would have to send to a third party. Assumptions and Capabilities Apple has done a tremendous job of knowing and anticipating what his competitors are doing. Apple was able to develop its iPhone and music player technology into a mobile phone. The Rokr was the mobile phone device that was developed by Motorola. The device contained quality sound and included an advanced camera system. A version of Apples iTunes music store has been developed for the iPhone so users can manage music and can download other applications that Apple has to offer. An Apple consumer can browse the web faster than its competitors. These capabilities make the iPhone ideal for both business and travel. By knowing the competitors moves and capabilities Apple was able to perfect a phone that could offer more programs and applications than any other phone. The company was then able to then focus on the strengths and weakness of its competition and compare it to the products they provide. The company believes in the highest quality of products. Thes e products will continue to provide what every customer wants and needs, a computer company that continuously makes life easi Open Source vs Closed Source Systems Open Source vs Closed Source Systems INTRODUCTION For many years, proprietary software has been the dominating business approach used by the commercial software firms. Industry giants like Microsoft proved this strategy to be successful, building their multibillion dollar empires based on the proprietary software platform. Over the past decade, a new business approach called open source model which involves contributors from around the globe to create, share and distribute software code for free had come into practice (Pal, N Madanmohan, TR., 2002). Although the roots to this practice of sharing code evolved since early 60s, the widespread usage of internet and the technology developments in past two decades opened new opportunities for open source projects (CNET news, 1998). A number of Open Source Software (OSS) products such as Apache web server, BIND and SendMail have dominated their product categories ever since then (Pal, N Madanmohan, TR., 2002). In the past decade, several researchers (Wheeler, DA., 2007; Mockus, et al., 2000) have taken interest in studying how open source can be applied to modern business strategies. However, a concern exists that in this area of study that there is no substantial evidence that the practices followed are effective in the business environment (Bitzer Schrà ¶der, 2004). For economists like Lerner Tirole (2000), the altruism shown by commercial companies and programmers involved in an open source software project is surprising. They stated altruism hasnt played a major role in any other industry than software. Several others like Freeman Rogers (2008) and Goetz (2003) contradict this statement by illustrating altruism exist in any industry provided there is proper exposure of the problem towards the contributing community. But most of the researches surrounding open source model considered software industry as the base for their studies. 1.0 SCOPE OF THE PROJECT 1.1 Objective This project work focuses on the study of the Open Source ecosystem (Android) how it differs from Closed source sustems such as those surrounding the iPhone. This project includes the study of the Android Market, (online mobile application store for Android users) application developers, and which factors developers consider for selecting a platform for application development. To understand business strategy development trends across Android and iPhone platforms, we compared the Android market with the iPhone App Store, the leading application store in current mobile market. Apple launched an online application marketplace called the â€Å"iPhone App Store† before launching iPhone 3G. Currently, this store has more than 195,000 applications. To match or surpass the success of iPhone App Store, Apple rivals such as Google and Blackberry introduced their own application downloading stores called â€Å"Android Market† and â€Å"Blackberry App World† respectively. T he Android Market is similar to the iPhone App Store or to any other application store; it boasts a catalog of applications,  services and tools available for the user to purchase download and use. Today, the Android Market also has around 49,000 applications. Thus, the comparison between iPhone and Android application stores will help explain the new challenges faced by these two application stores, and also the demand for these stores in the near future. This study will help understand why Android choose Open Source System and why Apple doesnt, what determines their success, which large companies are directly involved in developing applications for Android, and which factors they consider for developing an application. 1.2 Experimental Procedures This project is based on a semi-automatically collected application database and   surveys to obtain necessary information for proving the hypothesis. (A) Website Data Firstly, application data were collected semi-automatically from the Android Market and iPhone App Store (iTunes store) and other mobile applications related websites, for e.g., Androlib.com, iPhoneapplicationlist.com. This gathered application database includes a list of the application categories on both platforms, number of applications in each category, and application information for the selected categories. (B) Interview Data Next, we interviewed mobile application developers to understand and know their views about Android/iPhone platforms and the ecosystem. To get in touch with mobile application developers, we attended the mobile conferences where they gather to share their views. (C) Survey Data Lastly, all the relevant facts about application developers from the interview data helped us prepare a survey. This web-based survey was prepared and conducted using Survey Monkey. 1.3 Resources Utilized The main resources used during this project were our industrial advisor, our academic reader, Android and iPhone application database, interviews and surveys from mobile application developers. 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction of Literature Review In order to achieve success in project implementation, the first step is to research and find information already available. During research, we found many articles related to our topic. This paper is based on the content from these articles. We have divided this section in four main areas: Overview of the Open Source Operating Systems (Android). Overview of the Closed Source Operating Systems (Apple IOS). Fundamentals behind the Open Source Platform. Introduction to the Smartphone. 2.2 Overview of the Open Source Operating Systems (Android). Google has achieved something remarkable with its open-source Android operating system. SinceApples iPhonerevolutionised thesmartphonein June 2007, bringing touchscreens and a beautiful user experience to the masses, its been without a rival. Sure, theres a small legion of BlackBerry fans, and a few Nokia die-hards, but the critical consensus up until about a year ago was that the iPhones achievements were peerless. EnterAndroid. The free, open-source mobile operating system was introduced to consumers with theHTC Dream(also known as theT-Mobile G1) in late 2008, but didnt start gaining steam until the release of theHTC Heroin July 2009. The Hero, armed with a custom user interface called Sense that HTC built in-house, gained rave reviews for its high-end specs and faultless user experience, and appeared on many critics lists of the best gadgets of 2009. The whispers began: Had Google managed to create a platform that genuinely rivalled the iPhone for the best smartphone experience around? This success is starting to show in the numbers. In February 2010, Google announced that more than 60,000 phones with Android on were shipping each day. The Android App Market is also booming, housing more than 30,000 downloadable applications in March 2010, although thats still comparably small when set beside the 185,000 or so Apple has in its App Store. But where once companies had to have an iPhone app, its now understood that they need to offer both an iPhone and an Android variant. Manufacturers havent let the opportunity pass them by, either. At the time of writing, there are around 35 mobile phones, five tablet PCs, three e-book readers and a netbook available that come with Android installed a total of about 43 devices. But thats nothing compared to the amount of gadgets that are purportedly in the works. If you tot up the rumours, statements of intent, leaked documents and roadmapped products from manufacturers, you can add at least another 15 smartphones, 19 tablet PCs, two e-book readers and three more netbooks to the pile. When you combine the totals, you arrive at a figure of at least 82 Android devices either released or in development. The platform has received four major updates since the HTC Dream launched with Android 1.0. Version 1.5 brought camcorder functionality and the ability to use homescreen widgets. Version 1.6 added voice search and a better Android App Market. Then version 2.0 revamped the user interface, added new, larger screen sizes, as well as navigation support in Google Maps. The latest update is version 2.1, which debuted on theNexus One a handset built by HTC but to specifications dictated by Google itself. Android 2.1 brings additional homescreens, animated wallpapers and the ability to use voice recognition to type in all text fields very useful if youre in a situation where you cant use an on-screen keypad, such as when driving. Other devices are starting to appear with version 2.1 as well the Motorola Droid, known as theMilestone in Europe, recently received an update to 2.1, and HTCs forthcoming Legend and Desire handsets come with it installed. Oldhardware=nonewtricks However, the new features available in 2.1 come with increased demand on the relatively weak processors found in most smartphones, particularly in the earlier Android devices. As a result, some handsets cant run later versions of Android at satisfactory speed. Even in those that can, manufacturers have been exceptionally slow at rolling out updates to their device owners, with HTC still not having delivered any update above 1.5 for its Hero at the time of writing. Its difficult to fault Google for wanting to update its core platform as fast as it can. The problem is that its going so fast that manufacturers cant roll out updates to their own software at a speed to match. The upshot for users is that early Android adopters are stuck on two-year contracts looking mournfully at all the fun that new device owners can get, with no knowledge as to whether theyll eventually have access to the new features themselves. This isnt anything new in most cases other manufacturers dont grant older gadget owners access to new features but its tough on Android users in particular because the pace of the updates is so fast. A phone can be out-of-date within months of its release, and in some cases handsets are still arriving with Android version 1.6 installed. App developers suffer, too. Many of Googles home-grown applications Maps, Earth, Goggles and Gesture Search were initially only released for the 2.0 and 2.1 platforms. Some have since gained backwards compatibility to 1.6, but HTC Hero owners, running 1.5, still cant use them. App developers have a tough choice to make: support as wide a range of phones as possible, or offer an app with superior features, but only to those running the latest Android builds. Situationnormal: Allforkedup So what can Google do about the problem? The company is stuck with four slightly different variants of its platform in the wild, and its got a splintered marketplace where one Android user cant necessarily access the same apps that another can, and its confusing and frustrating for end users. The obvious way ahead is to try and force manufacturers to update the software on their devices. Any device running 1.5 should be able to cope with 1.6, and a 2.0 device will manage 2.1. While that still leaves the problem of devices that cant quite cope with the most recent updates, Google should be able to merge its four shards into two a set of 1.6 devices and a set of 2.1 devices simplifying the situation somewhat. However, that relies on the goodwill and resources of a diverse set of companies, and some of those will only have dipped a toe into the waters of Android, meaning that they might be less keen to start devoting significant staff time to mucking around with operating system updates. So Googles got another trick up its sleeve. Recent rumours suggest that the company, in the upcoming version 2.2 update, is planning to de-couple the various applications that run on the device from the operating system itself. The browser, email apps, contacts, input methods and various other components will be downloadable and, crucially, updatable through the Android market rather than needing to wait for a full OS update to be upgraded. When Google wants to update the Gmail app, it can just push a market update, rather than forcing customers to wait for HTC, Dell, Samsung or other manufacturers to approve it. If Google fails to unify the Android platform, a future looms where Android is stuck in a series of ghettoes, with no guarantee that one Android user will be able to run the same apps as another unless they buy a new device every six months. Thats good news for manufacturers, but very bad news for Google and for consumers. If Google manages the transition successfully however, then a unified (or at least consolidated) platform could be easily updated by both Google and phone-makers, depending on whether the update is a critical security issue or a new feature in an application. Time is pressing. The fate of Android rests on what Google does over the summer of 2010. Will the platform fall by the wayside, or will it instead grow to be the Windows of smartphones, carefully balancing openness to app developers with a superior user experience and mass-market appeal? On past form, it seems foolish to bet against Google. Let us also look at the SORT analysis for android: Being a self declared Google and Android fanboy, Im constantly reading and studying about cloud computing and the mobile marketplace whenever I have the opportunity. Ive even begun the very first steps of beginning to learn programming Java for the Android platform, although this is a ‘free time endeavor which is going to take quite some time for me to get even the basic level of proficiency achieved. 2.2.1 SWOT Analyses for GOOGLE ANDROID But one area where I feel comfortable in discussion and analysis is in the business realm, which is why I decided to do a basic SWOT analysis for Google Android. It is a tool used in strategic planning to evaluateStrengths,Weaknesses,Opportunities, andThreats involved in a project or business. A companys Strengths and Weaknesses are generally internal, while the Opportunities and Threats are external factors. To spare most of the readers of this analysis, this SWOT is going to be a little less in depth than a typical SWOT analysis. However, it will be detailed enough to outline and discuss what I feel are the key items in each area of the analysis. STRENGTHS The Google Brand-Google is one of the most well known and respected technology companies on the planet. The fact that they are behind the Android platform gives it credibility and viability in the eyes of potential partners, vendors, and developers. Device Selection-Unlike the Apple iPhone where you dont have any options of hardware suppliers other than Apple itself, the Android OS is open-source and any hardware manufacturer who chooses to do so can use it on their handset. This gives consumers a great deal of selection from which to choose from while also decreasing the lead time to the use of the latest hardware and technological advances in mobile electronics. Competitive Pricing-The Android OS is very cost effective to develop for since it is open source and the licensing arrangements are very vendor friendly. Thus, handsets utilizing the Android OS tend to be prices very aggressively. Google application and services integration-The fact that the Android platform integrates so many of the Google services and applications into its base only strengthens its core capabilities and usefulness. Google items such as GMAIL, Calendar, Reader, Listen, and of course GPS and Maps to name a few integrate seamlessly with the Android OS and make it very simple for users to synchronize their data across platforms from the desktop to the cloud and mobile platforms. Open Source-The Android OS is built from a Linux base using the JAVA Programming language. You can go directly to the http://source.android.com website and find the information and source code you need to build a compatible device for Android. Additionally, Android is a core part of the OHA (Open Handset Alliance) which is a group of companies working together to develop Android as an open and free mobile platform. Google Assets-The Android team(s) has all the intellectual, economic, and influential resources of Google at its disposal to make it a dominant player in the mobile marketplace. WEAKNESSES Multimedia Support-Unlike the Apple iPhone which has the enormously popular iTunes application and marketplace, Android does not have a central or cohesive source of multimedia material nor a centralized player. Although there have been some improvements in applications on the Android platform in this area, at this time there is no â€Å"the† place to go that comes even slightly close to what Apple can offer on this front. However, there are numerous rumors to what exactly Google has in store for a music service of its own to be released sometime in late 2010. Whatever it is, it needs to be extremely well executed to come close to what iTunes offers Apple iPhone users. The one large asset Google has going for it is YouTube, and their recent announcement ofWebM(VP8) could become a lever for multimedia influence in video delivery for Google and the Android OS. Reliance on hardware makers to upgrade-Apple controls the when and how iPhone users will get not only new hardware, but upgrades to the OS and core functionality. With Android, even when Google releases a new version of its OS, it has to wait for the manufacturers to thoroughly test and modify code to make sure it works properly on their specific hardware configuration. Google is addressing this issue as it has announced that it plans to implement more of the core features of its services into the Android OS itself instead of as applications, and to slow down the upgrade releases as the OS matures in the marketplace. Less Mature-Android is not as mature or as polished as the iPhone at this point. It improves with every release, but it hasnt reached the same level of overall user friendliness in its interface that Apple has achieved. Lack of Enterprise Support-Blackberry and even Microsoft still get most of the support when it comes to Enterprise usage. Although both Apple and Google have made some inroads in this marketplace, Android has a very small market share here. It needs to continue to develop Google Apps and its integration abilities with Microsoft Exchange. OPPORTUNITIES The Android OS has a â€Å"HUGE† opportunity to get into the Tablet and e-book reader platform market right now. It cannot afford to sit back and watch Apple dominate the tablet market and eat up the market share as it had done when it released the iPhone. To date, that is exactly what is happening as no major hardware ‘mover and shaker has released an Android based tablet which is a fantastic opportunity if it is executed properly. I want one NOW! There have been several minor releases of Android tablets over the last few months, but none of them are what I would consider a significant product. Either Google itself or someone such as HP, Dell, ASUS, or ACER need to release a killer Android tablet in order for it to gather any traction. These waters only became murkier when HP acquired PALM. Developing Countries-Google has a huge opportunity to develop inexpensive devices using the Android platform in developing countries. The licensing is extremely developer friendly and the upfront cost investments are significantly less than other platforms. The integration with so many of Googles other free services is a natural fit in this marketplace. Developer Friendly-Unlike the recent activities of Apple which has alienated and ticked off much of the developer community, developing for Android is very open and developer friendly. Google needs to take this opportunity to help developers continue to monetize their efforts through improved advertising revenue models and app sales. Growth of smartphone market-The smartphone market is still very immature and there is still a huge amount of growth to take place over the next several years to decade. Google needs to continue to work hard to position itself with its cloud computing applications and services in support of the Android OS. The marriage of these two areas is key to the maintained growth rate and increased market share potential of the Android platform. Embedded electronic devices-The Android OS has huge potential to be a major player in the embedded electronic market as a dominate embedded operating system. With so many devices becoming embedded with smart technologies and connectivity to the cloud, the Android OS is primed to be a major winner there. THREATS iPhone unleashed-If the iPhone is unleashed from the beaten down ATT network and appears on other networks such as Sprint and in particular, Verizon, it could be a real threat to the sustained rate of future market share growth for the Android OS. A significant amount of potential smartphone customers said they would buy an iPhone if it werent on the ATT network. (I was once in this camp, until I discovered the world of Android.) Apple dominance-Apples market share gives it a great influence over developers and old media companies who are dying for a revenue model that will work for them. The ever growing walled garden that Apple is building is a false panacea that the old media companies are holding onto with both hands-the ability to charge users for access to premium content. Apples recent changes in policy and functional restrictions make it the ideal platform to launch such a strategy and recruit the power brokers from this old model. Additionally, the â€Å"theres an app for that† and Im willing to pay for it behavior of Apple iPhone users is of great appeal to developers who see the dollar signs in this market. (Ive yet to pay for an application on Android) This gives Apple influence over developers and makes their huge market share very difficult to walk away from, even when they adopt very unfriendly developer policies. Increased Competition-Obviously, companies like RIM and Microsoft are going to fight for their share of the market and arent going to just give up. In particular, the Blackberry platform which still has huge support in the enterprise market. Platform Fragmentation-This is a huge threat to the Android platform. Although I listed the numerous devices as a strength above, the risk of fragmentation is a real and significant one. This is why Google has recently put a lot of effort into developing ways to minimize this problem. Google does not want numerous custom version of Android to emerge or fork off from their core platform, which is something you see in the Linux distribution network. Google is developing a set of baseline standards for compatibility for its platform. Since Google controls the Android Market, it can maintain significant influence over device vendors to meet the compatibility requirements. If you do a little research on this topic, you will see that Googles standards are fairly rigid, maybe more so than one would expect. Google also plans to adopt aonce-per-yearrelease schedule as well. None the less, managing this risk is a major and real threat to the Android platform. So there you have it, my basic SWOT analysis for Google Android. One underlying issue I feel is worth noting is that Google does not have to dominate, and as much as so many of us would love to see it, it does not have to â€Å"beat† Apple in market share or any other core metric. The only thing Google needs to do is to make sure there is an open platform large enough in the mobile market for its advertising business. Lets face it; Google is not about selling Android devices. Google is about search and advertising, and Apples closed system was a threat to that model which has become even more self-evident over the last six to nine months of Apple policies and maneuverings. Apple recently announced their own Ad network for the iPhone and iPad which could be viewed as a shot across the bow of Google which puts even more necessity on the Android platforms success. The clear advantage that Google has going for itself right now is that Apple (Steve Jobs) is either being indignant o ver what cloud computing actually does and means, or he truly doesnt understand or hasnt figured out how its suppose to work. Considering how intelligent Steve Jobs is, I find it highly unlikely that the second option is the reason, and that his stubbornness and willingness to maintain personal grudges as the likely culprit. 2.3 Overview of the Closed Source Operating Systems (Apple IOS). If theres one company that is the envy of the high-tech community these days, its Apple. Steve Jobs is hailed as a genius CEO and lauded for a string of hit products. Apples market capitalization is over $200 BILLION dollars currently, easily ranking it in the top 10 companies in the world by market cap, and just shy of Microsoft for biggest technology company. Everyone wants to understand the secrets of Apples success and hopefully emulate them. The reasons given by people for Apples success are many. The following are a few of the arguments made: Vertical integration- Apple owns most of, if not the entire, technology stack for its key products, and thus gives it advantages over other less vertically integrated products. NOTE: â€Å"Vertical integration† used to be called â€Å"being proprietary† and was given as the reason for Apples relative lack of success against Microsoft in the OS/PC battles of the 80s and 9os. But phenomenal success has a way of changing peoples minds. Making markets vs. addressing markets- Some claim that Apple doesnt ask people what they need but gives them products they decide theywant. Does anyone NEED an iPhone or iPad? Not really, but a lot of people seem to want them. The Cool Factor- Lets face it, Apple does make â€Å"cool† products. Attention to design and detail-fit and finish as they say-really distinguishes Apples products from competitors. Entering markets after theyve developed— Contrary to #2 above, some people claim that Apple doesnt make markets but enters existing markets once theyre growing and takes advantage of latent demand. The iPod was not the first digital music player and the iPhone was not the first smart phone, and the iPad is not the first portable computing device. In the case of the iPad, products like the Kindle and Netbooks actually paved the way for the market to accept small computing devices, and Apples iPad is riding that wave. Differentiated business models- whether it was iPod+iTunes or the iPhone+App Store, Apple innovates not just on technology, but on the business model. This makes it difficult for competitors to play catch up, let alone overtake Apple once it establishes itself in a dominant position. People care about the experience not technology— Apple has always been about the user experience, but for a long time, the majority of the market didnt care about that. The majority of desktop computer users cared about â€Å"techs and specs†. Now the tables have turned, and the majority dont care about the specs, they care about the experience. The iPod, with its â€Å"1000 songs in your pocket† motto and iTunes which radically simplified purchasing music latched onto the experience wave, and Apple has been riding it ever since. Simple product offerings- Apple has a very clear and simple set of products. Its easy to understand the differences between their products, product families and the various configurations. This makes it easy to buy an Apple product if you want to. A lot of companies complicate things unnecessarily. How many iPhone models are there? How many Blackberry models are there? How many Nokia smart phone models are there? See the difference between Apple, RIM and Nokia? The same is true for the iMAc, the iPod and the iPad. Granted, there are actually a number of iPod models (Nano, Shuffle, Touch etc.) but they are very distinct amongst themselves. This cant be said for digital music players from other companies. 2.3.1 Apple Competitive Analysis: Future Goals Apple has been and continues to focus on what its competitors are doing in order to keep a competitive strategy. Steve Jobs wanted to create a brand loyal name and to also produce a personalized computer with many features that would allow your life to be easier. Apple needed to keep up with rapid price cuts of its competitors personalized computers that were based on other operating systems. They wanted to focus on the rapid technological advances in both hardware and software that would boost their computers performance and provide its own operating systems. By doing so, the iMac-personalized computer was introduced in 1997 and they were able to create the brand loyalty they were looking for. They want to continue to build the brand loyal name and keep giving the consumer what they want to make their lives easier. Current Strategy Steve Jobs has recognized that many of its competitors have been providing computers that rely heavily on other operating systems to run their computers. For example, Dell computers rely on windows XP, and many of their software products rely on other partys. What Steve Jobs has managed to do is to incorporate its own operating systems, hardware, and software programs for its entire product line. The software that they have created would allow the user to edit videos, download and play music, edit pictures, etc. with all of their own products and applications. While other competition relied on outside companies introducing their own digital and distribution music product services, subscription services, and free peer-to-peer music services; Apple has created a way to counter the constant changing competitive market. They have done so by effectively integrating all three services that its competitors have to choose from by creating the iPod for hardware, iTunes for software, and iTune s Music Store for the third party distribution services. Apple has been able to eliminate its reliance on outside companies and to keep on creating specialized programs for consumers. Another factor that has helped keep Apples future thriving is by introducing the Apple Store. Customers are now able to take their products into the store and have an apple specialist examine/work on the products that they are heavily invested in. Most competitors would have the consumer take computer/product to a tech department of a store or would have to send to a third party. Assumptions and Capabilities Apple has done a tremendous job of knowing and anticipating what his competitors are doing. Apple was able to develop its iPhone and music player technology into a mobile phone. The Rokr was the mobile phone device that was developed by Motorola. The device contained quality sound and included an advanced camera system. A version of Apples iTunes music store has been developed for the iPhone so users can manage music and can download other applications that Apple has to offer. An Apple consumer can browse the web faster than its competitors. These capabilities make the iPhone ideal for both business and travel. By knowing the competitors moves and capabilities Apple was able to perfect a phone that could offer more programs and applications than any other phone. The company was then able to then focus on the strengths and weakness of its competition and compare it to the products they provide. The company believes in the highest quality of products. Thes e products will continue to provide what every customer wants and needs, a computer company that continuously makes life easi