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Killer Apps???

Emile van Sebille emile at fenx.com
Fri Feb 18 22:27:34 EST 2000 
Wow!

If you released the eff-bot code, that'd be a killer app!

It-is-written-in-python-isn't-it?-ly yr's

Emile van Sebille
emile at fenx.com
-------------------


----- Original Message -----
From: Fredrik Lundh <effbot at telia.com>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.python
To: <python-list at python.org>
Sent: Friday, February 18, 2000 2:16 PM
Subject: Re: Killer Apps???


> François Pinard <pinard at iro.umontreal.ca> wrote:
> > Just curious, and using English as a second language, here.
> >
> > I do not understand what these applications are supposed to kill?
> > Developers?  Users?  Competitors? :-) Why the reference to
"killing"?
>
> [checking the eff-bot archive]
>
> (oh, here it is)
>
> [start of transmission]
>
> UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, PLAINTIFF, VS. MICROSOFT
> CORPORATION, ET AL., DEFENDANTS
>
> WASHINGTON, D. C. DECEMBER 15, 1998
>
> EXCERPTS OF BILL GATES' DEPOSITION
>
>           QUESTION:  THE PORTION OF IT I WANT TO REFER YOU
> TO IS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE FIRST PAGE UNDER THE HEADING
> CALLED "THE LATEST KILLER APP."  DO YOU SEE THAT?
>
>           ANSWER:  I SEE A HEADING.
>
>           QUESTION:  YES.  THE FIRST PARAGRAPH UNDER THE
> HEADING READS AS FOLLOWS:  "OUR INDUSTRY IS ALWAYS LOOKING
> FOR THE NEXT 'KILLER APPLICATION' -- FOR A CATEGORY OF
> SOFTWARE THAT, BY ITS UTILITY AND INTELLIGENT DESIGN,
> BECOMES INDISPENSABLE TO MILLIONS OF PEOPLE.  WORD
> PROCESSORS AND SPREADSHEETS WERE THE KILLER APPLICATIONS FOR
> BUSINESS P.C.'S STARTING IN 1981."
>           AND THE NEXT SENTENCE READS, "THE LATEST CONFIRMED
> 'KILLER APP' IS THE WEB BROWSER."
>           DO YOU RECALL WRITING THAT, SIR?
>
>           ANSWER:  NO.
>
>           QUESTION:  DO YOU HAVE ANY REASON TO BELIEVE YOU
> DIDN'T WRITE IT?
>
>           ANSWER:  NO.
>
>           QUESTION:  CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHAT YOU MEANT HERE BY
> DESCRIBING THE WEB BROWSER AS A "KILLER APP"?
>
>           ANSWER:  I JUST MEANT THAT BROWSING WOULD BE, IN
> OUR VIEW, A POPULAR THING, NOT NECESSARILY ON THE WEB, BUT
> JUST BROWSING IN GENERAL WOULD BE A POPULAR ACTIVITY.
>
>           QUESTION:  IS A KILLER APPLICATION AN APPLICATION
> THAT DRIVES SALES OF OTHER PRODUCTS, LIKE OPERATING SYSTEMS
> AND HARDWARE?
>
>           ANSWER:  NO.
>
>           QUESTION:  DO YOU HAVE A DEFINITION IN YOUR OWN
> MIND OF "KILLER APPLICATION"?
>
>           ANSWER:  IT MEANS A POPULAR APPLICATION.
>
>           QUESTION:  LET ME RESORT AGAIN TO THE MICROSOFT
> COMPUTER DICTIONARY, AND I'LL READ YOU WHAT THAT SAYS ABOUT
> KILLER APPLICATIONS.  YOU MAY DISAGREE WITH IT, AND IF SO,
> YOU CAN TELL ME.
>           THE MICROSOFT COMPUTER DICTIONARY, 1997 EDITION,
> DEFINES "KILLER APP" AS FOLLOWS, AND IT GIVES TWO
> DEFINITIONS.  AND I'LL BE VERY COMPLETE THIS TIME,
> MR. GATES.
>           THE FIRST DEFINITION IS, "AN APPLICATION OF SUCH
> POPULARITY AND WIDESPREAD STANDARDIZATION THAT IT FUELS
> SALES OF THE HARDWARE PLATFORM OR OPERATING SYSTEM FOR WHICH
> IT WAS WRITTEN."
>           I WILL READ IT TO YOU.  THE SECOND DEFINITION IS,
> "AN APPLICATION THAT SUPPLANTS ITS COMPETITION."
>           LET ME GO BACK AND READ YOU THE FIRST DEFINITION
> AGAIN, NOW THAT YOU'VE HEARD BOTH OF THEM.
>           THE FIRST DEFINITION READS AS FOLLOWS:  "AN
> APPLICATION OF SUCH POPULARITY AND WIDESPREAD
> STANDARDIZATION THAT IT FUELS SALES OF THE HARDWARE PLATFORM
> OR OPERATING SYSTEM FOR WHICH IT WAS WRITTEN."
>
>           ANSWER:  I ALREADY TOLD YOU THAT MY DEFINITION OF
> "KILLER APP" IS A VERY POPULAR APPLICATION.
>
>           QUESTION:  WHAT ABOUT A RELATIONSHIP TO AN
> OPERATING SYSTEM?
>
>           ANSWER:  USUALLY THEY'RE JUST TALKING ABOUT IT
> BEING A VERY POPULAR APPLICATION.  I CERTAINLY KNOW OF
> THINGS THAT HAVE BEEN REFERRED TO AS KILLER APPLICATIONS
> THAT HAVEN'T DRIVEN HARDWARE SALES OR OPERATING SYSTEM
> SALES.
>
>           QUESTION:  WHAT OTHER APPLICATIONS WOULD YOU
> IDENTIFY AS BEING KILLER APPLICATIONS?
>
>           ANSWER:  APPLIED SIMULATOR.
>
> [end of transmission]
>
>
> --
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>
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