The Ghetto Latte

Years ago we balked at paying over $1 for a cup of coffee not anymore.
Starbucks has created a market for the $4 cup of coffee, and has sold us an over roasted coffee beans that conveys to my little taste buds the flavor of burned coffee. I’m not a big fan of Starbucks, but I do like my coffee. I have my espresso maker which gets some use when I have the time. I do like the fresh ground of whole beans. So, the other day I came across an article in the paper about the ghetto latte. This formula is: buy a regular cup of coffee, add milk or crème and toss in the flavoring of your choice if you want. Throw it in the microwave and instant Ghetto Latte. It isn’t shabby, certainly cheaper than buying the real thing and a lot less labor. It does lack that real rich coffee flavor that you get with a shot of espresso, but it will do in a pinch.

Now that gas is approaching $4 a gallon will I see my coffee going up to $8 a cup?

Mac Vs. PC what about Linux

For awhile now I’ve been seeing these Mac ads on TV that have the geeky PC Guy (representing the Windows OS) and the kind of cool Mac Guy. These are humorous ads though very misleading.
First these are both Personal Computers, their just built on different business models.

Microsoft is a software company; they develop operating systems, server software, productivity suites and a host of other software. Then partner with hardware vendors for the machine it will run on. This gives the consumer and business client a larger choice and price range for that PC. With this model they have achieved a something like 90% market penetration. With that market a lot of other software companies have developed software to run on this platform, which now gives me even more choices. I know there has been quite a bit of controversy on how they achieved this, but they did it.

So, Get over it!

Now the Mac has release its new OS, and I’d really like to have it up and running on one of my machines. All the reviews I’ve read praise it, it has some great features, I’d really like to have it. The problem is their business model. I don’t want to buy their Hardware to run it. Why is their OS limited in this way, you can now have Microsoft Vista as a dual boot on the Mac Intel based machine. Why can’t I have Mac OS dual boot (and no emulator) on any Intel machine or AMD for that matter (I can do that with Linux, and Linux is based on a UNIX kernel and isn’t the Mac OS based on a UNIX kernel). I just built a new machine, I would have to spend twice as much to get a comparable machine from Mac, why should I? The problem is I really want the Mac OS and for a good reason, I want some Mac software. The software that put AVID on notice that the six figure video editing suite is a thing of the past. FINAL CUT PRO, this is the best of breed video editing suite out there, and the cost, around a grand. Final Cut does broadcast quality, it does it all, this is the ultimate post production suite and it’s priced for the consumer. If you’re into video this is a must.

So the bottom line is think about your customers our pockets are just so deep.