Jon Mulholland

Now is that saying something about Twitter/FriendFeed or about Microsoft Dynamics? =) - RAD Moose

RAD: talking about enterprise software isn't as interesting as cat photos. - Robert Scoble

Like for the overall idea, not for the political name calling etc. - Erica Baker

I don't know precisely how the proposed bailout is structured yet, but it definitely gives me a scary, icky feeling at first glance. And while I do think that labor costs are *part* of US automakers' problems, it's obvious that they're far from the whole story. - Joel Webber

It's also worth noting that the article's author is Charles Krauthammer, who's hardly a useful source of unbiased information. Some of the commenters go so far as to suggest that US automakers would be fine if it weren't for CAFE standards, which is pretty absurd given that they also apply to companies that are doing just fine. - Joel Webber

I say Nay as well. Wish it was YAY. - Gary Bacon II

sure hope so! - Vikrum J. Singh

Nay. - Louis Gray

Nay - Susan Beebe

Come bet on it. ;) http://www.thestandard.com/pre... - Cyndy

in 2008? it's almost over and no one's hardly even talking about it, even PC users (although I quite like it). Nay - Dori Fern

I say Nay. - Joey Gibson

Sadly, Nay... - Seth Greenblatt

I love snark. - Chris White

Do layoffs mean you maybe hired more full-timers than you should have? Perhaps the time is right for us all to become consultants. - Daniel J. Pritchett

Don't they need someone to deliver pizzas? - Mona N.

Daniel: TiVo's headcount has remained pretty steady over time. There are a lot of companies more deserving of the 'you hired too quickly and now you pay the price' snark than TiVo is. This is a sad day for TiVo and many of my friends who work there. - Kevin Fox

I ♡ TiVo. We have two, including a Series 1 and an HD. They pioneered this market and should have gotten much bigger than they have. Great product. - Louis Gray

Louis, I feel the same way. There are just a handful of products / services that are in the same class as TiVo in my book. - Mike Doeff

The problem TiVo ran into (and WebTV also) was that the cable/satellite companies control everything. Once they partnered with companies with better UIs, they created internal projects to build their own DVRs, and then ended the partnerships. Getting a box from your provider became the default compared to getting a 3rd party product. It's an unfortunate reality of business that there are strategic issues beyond user experience that determine success. It's the primary reason we haven't seen an Apple DVR. - Chris White

But we have seen an Apple phone, and arguably the situation is pretty similar there. - ⓞnor

@nor, Apple negotiated a great deal with AT&T, as far as wireless contracts go, but they still had to sign a 5-year exclusive. The cable market in particular is different because it's regional, which just becomes a huge convoluted mess. Better luck will probably come from using broadband than trying to navigate the cable twisty passages. - Chris White

@nor: By that analogy, is Android the generic mobile provider's alternative? - Kevin Fox

Tivo made it impossible for me to cancel my account with them a few years back (no option on their website, even though I had added by cc# there, and an intolerably long wait on the phone). My credit card was about to expire, so I figured it wasn't a problem (just a few extra months of billing), but then they continued to charge me even after the card expired (the new card had the same number with a different expiration date). Anyway, I don't feel too sorry for them, and I don't plan to buy from them ever again. - Paul Buchheit

Paul, the credit card companies are funny about these recurring charges. Even after I've changed numbers on the same account for fraud reasons, I've continued to get recurring charges from some companies. Luckily I've never had a problem with TiVo because I bought out the contract and then gave it away to someone. - Chris White

:( - Josh Haley

Just one more useless commodity that needed to bite the dust as soon as home DVR'ing with traditional services was implemented. - tony

I'm kind of surprised at the antipathy I'm seeing here for TiVo. I can understand if their CS department somehow slighted you, but I have not had that experience and I have owned 4 separate TiVo's over the years, some with lifetime subscriptions. Bottom line, the TiVo has the easiest, most powerful platform for scheduling recordings and watching TV that I have ever used. At the very least, I would hope that Scientific Atlanta, etc., would take notes but almost everything else out there is crap (cont'd) - Phil Glockner

Ah, the company that singlehandedly screwed the ad business :) - Patricia

comparatively. TiVo has fought and scraped for so long on a completely slanted playing field, and they are a true underdog. I'm glad that projects like MythTV are starting to mature, and perhaps that is the future of television, but for now I will stick to my Series3. - Phil Glockner

I wasn't snarking, just curious about business models. - Daniel J. Pritchett via fftogo

Phil, my comments weren't antipathy. I thought TiVo did a great job on user experience. What I was saying was they didn't have a strategic business advantage, and that is often what is necessary for long term success. - Chris White