Rickson9 wrote:I don't understand tech stocks either so I've never invested in them. Too difficult for me to figure out and too fast moving an industry.
Best regards.
Yes, tech hardware is very fast moving and usually has no "protective moat". New, better hardware can replace the older hardware over the weekend.
Not so with software. Once you train millions of users to use programs like Word and Excel, there is resistence to unlearn and learn something new and better. This inertia constitutes a protective moat for companies like Microsoft, Adobe, etc.
“The search for truth is more precious than its possession.” Albert Einstein
Rickson9 wrote:I don't understand tech stocks either so I've never invested in them. Too difficult for me to figure out and too fast moving an industry.
Best regards.
Yes, tech hardware is very fast moving and usually has no "protective moat". New, better hardware can replace the older hardware over the weekend.
Not so with software. Once you train millions of users to use programs like Word and Excel, there is resistence to unlearn and learn something new and better. This inertia constitutes a protective moat for companies like Microsoft, Adobe, etc.
For spreadsheet, before Excel I think the standard was Lotus 123. At least that's what we got stuck with when I was in the work environment. Gosh how I hated Lotus. Much prefer Works spreadsheet and Excel. Before Word, if my memory serves me correctly, I think it was WordStar, and then later WordPerfect as the standards for their time.
Taggart wrote:For spreadsheet, before Excel I think the standard was Lotus 123. At least that's what we got stuck with when I was in the work environment. Gosh how I hated Lotus. Much prefer Works spreadsheet and Excel. Before Word, if my memory serves me correctly, I think it was WordStar, and then later WordPerfect as the standards for their time.
To mangle metaphors, Bill's Borg crossed the moat of Lotus' and WordPerfect's castles. They sent a flock of bad-ass black swans to poop all over them (by withholding vital interface information about Windows.) That let the Borg bring Windows versions of Excel and Word to market before their competitors and to give them features that the competitors were incapable of providing because they didn't have the necessary interface information.
Even though it resulted in DoJ anti-trust charges against the Borg, by then it was too late for Lotus and WP. (Both companies BTW were bought out, Lotus by IBM, WP by Corel, so all was not lost by their shareholders.)
Sedulously eschew obfuscatory hyperverbosity and prolixity.
adrian2 wrote:Going back to your question, I feel no regret in not owning Apple or Lululemon. They can make new highs every week, or they can crash into the ground. I felt the same way about RIM (well, not quite, as I was too early in trying to take negative exposure to it).
What I was trying to get at is the bias we tend to have once we own a stock.
We hesitate to take small losses or even windfall profits because of a fear of missing a future move.
Alas my fear of 'regret' should the stock go to $56.51 in the next year outweights my 'short term greed' (or need?) to take $500 off the table and fold my TGT hand.
Yet there doesn’t seem to be the same fear of regret that we didn’t take the quick profit if the stock falls.
Once we own a stock we seem to become a little brain dead about its future prospects. We will continue to hold a stock we wouldn’t buy because if we sell it, it might go up.
"And the days that I keep my gratitude higher than my expectations, well, I have really good days" RW Hubbard
VisiCalc was originally written for the Apple II and later ported to the IBM PC. Lotus 1-2-3 was specifically designed and written for the IBM PC in 808x Assembler. A credible case can be made that while VC is what made Apple II viable as an "office" system it was 1-2-3 — not Charlie Chaplin — that made the IBM PC a success. I recall introducing a couple of MBA types in our office to a hard-disk based 1-2-3 on an IBM XT in the spring of 1983. Even though they'd been using VC, their eyes lit up like kids on Christmas morning when they saw how much better and faster 1-2-3 was.
(In those days 1-2-3 was copy-protected such that you had to leave the System diskette in the drive for as long as you were using their software. My first success as a "pirate" was to develop a 1-byte patch to 123.exe to eliminate that restriction and free up the sole floppy drive on the XT
The patch below is for Release 1A of 123.EXE that effectively unprotected
the copy-protected disk and allowed hard-disk to run without the floppy.
To unprotect 123.EXE Version 1A,
1. Rename 123.EXE 123.XYZ
2. DEBUG 123.XYZ
3. type U ABA9
4. you should see INT 13 at that address
5. type E ABA9 90 90
6. type W
7. type Q
8. Rename 123.XYZ 123.EXE
The two bytes (OK so my memory failed) are NOPs that effectively bypass the disk I/O operation that tested for a valid System diskette. The hard part was to find the particular INT 13 in 123.exe that did this.)
</OT>
Sedulously eschew obfuscatory hyperverbosity and prolixity.
VisiCalc was originally written for the Apple II and later ported to the IBM PC.
And before that was BudPlan that ran on System/360. We used it under contract to create annual reports for a company in Sarnia (Polymer Corp) in 1969.
Library of Congress wrote:Program product — IBM system/360 and system/370 budgets and plans generator (BUDPLAN) operations guide; program number: 5734-F51. 1st ed.
kcowan wrote:And before that was BudPlan that ran on System/360. We used it under contract to create annual reports for a company in Sarnia (Polymer Corp) in 1969.
Lotus also ported 1-2-3 to run under VM and MVS so that mainframers could co-exist with their PC brethren. Later after they bought Lotus, IBM (with some help from moi) ported Notes/Domino to run under OS/390. Neither were particularly successful (not because of moi, of course )
Sedulously eschew obfuscatory hyperverbosity and prolixity.
George$ wrote: I keep checking this thread thinking someone is commenting on TGT --
Someone took it off topic.
Not so with software. Once you train millions of users to use programs like Word and Excel, there is resistence to unlearn and learn something new and better. This inertia constitutes a protective moat for companies like Microsoft, Adobe, etc.
"And the days that I keep my gratitude higher than my expectations, well, I have really good days" RW Hubbard
Not so with software. Once you train millions of users to use programs like Word and Excel, there is resistence to unlearn and learn something new and better. This inertia constitutes a protective moat for companies like Microsoft, Adobe, etc.
Right on. I did say that.
“The search for truth is more precious than its possession.” Albert Einstein
It was controlled chaos inside the temporary store, on the corner of King Street West and Peter Street, as staff staggered the number of shoppers let in at one time.
There was the buzz of polite frenzy as women, who accounted for 99 per cent of shoppers, grabbed dresses, tops and skirts, but then amenably traded sizes and gave each other advice on what looked good.
As sizes ran out, people took clothes off the mannequins, prompting the store to post security guards to protect the statues. “It’s not even the size I want but I don’t care,” said one woman who denuded a mannequin of the coveted black cocktail dress. Others, not wanting to wait in line for the dressing rooms, stripped down in a corner of the store, in full view of the glass windows where shoppers waited outside in line.
and so far about an 18% increase since I bought some TGT
“The search for truth is more precious than its possession.” Albert Einstein
...data about your ethnicity, job history, the magazines you read, if you’ve ever declared bankruptcy or got divorced, the year you bought (or lost) your house, where you went to college, what kinds of topics you talk about online, whether you prefer certain brands of coffee, paper towels, cereal or applesauce, your political leanings, reading habits, charitable giving and the number of cars you own.
[As the reporter says, all big companies do it.
"If you are a large company and you are not involved in analytics, you are not a large company for very much longer. Target is an interesting example because they are among the smartest companies at doing this stuff."] http://6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/ ... rget-know/
BERTRAND MAROTTE
The Globe and Mail
Published Friday, Nov. 22 2013, 10:20 AM EST
Last updated Friday, Nov. 22 2013, 12:37 PM EST
------------------------------------------
I'm not a big shopper, but does anyone really, really love Target. I mean the few times I've been in their store, I've found it to be real clean, and I kind of like the red and white background. Also the washrooms are far better than Walmart. Other than that I don't see anything great about them. I've looked at their food section and the selection is even more pitiful than at Walmart. If this is the competition for the major Canadian grocery chains, then good luck with that one. Opening hours are lousy. 8 a.m. for Target versus 7 a.m. for Walmart. Looked at some of the prices at Target, and again nothing I can't usually get cheaper elsewhere.
Does anyone else have any positives regarding Target stores here in Canada?
Taggart wrote:Does anyone have any positives regarding Target stores here in Canada?
In Canada, no - they don't seem to have done anything here that makes them otherwise popular in the US. When I go to the US for long weekends (aka "shopping trips"), Target and Fred Meyer are standard stops for me for a variety of things because a) they have everything and more, and b) prices on a lot of things are substantially less than in Canada. However, I find that Target Canada does not have the same selection, and the prices are more than the US. I won't shop at Target Canada when I know I can get better at their US locations.
Taggart wrote:
Does anyone else have any positives regarding Target stores here in Canada?
It's clean and bright. It appears to be well organized, but selection is limited. I can't think of anything that I would go there first for. I have never been a fan of department stores or discount stores. This chain can't decide what it wants to be here in Canada. It has been very much a let down compared to what I remember about the stores in the southern US -- a non-event as far as I'm concerned.
I could say the same thing about Marshall's. They came here with lots of fan fare. Other than the week the store opened it seems pretty much deserted most time when I drive by. There's something about retail in Canada versus the US -- one country's success doesn't translate very well when you move the concept across the border for some reason. Starbucks's and Wal-Mart maybe the only ones that have actually worked.
"On what principle is it, that when we see nothing but improvement behind us, we are to expect nothing but deterioration before us?"
Thomas Babington Macaulay in 1830
Taggart wrote:Does anyone have any positives regarding Target stores here in Canada?
Whenever my wife is on business in the US she manages to find time to shop at Target. Apparently their selection and quality (especially women's and kid's clothing) is much better and prices are lower than in Canada. Once in a while she still checks out Target Canada (work-related store checks on the competition) and believes that they haven't really differentiated themselves from Walmart like they have in the States.
scomac wrote:There's something about retail in Canada versus the US -- one country's success doesn't translate very well when you move the concept across the border for some reason. Starbucks's and Wal-Mart maybe the only ones that have actually worked.
True re: country differences but there is a longer list - e.g., Home Depot, Lowe's, Costco, Pier1, The Gap, AE Outfitters, etc. - just off the top of my head.
If we just passed a law that said: "Any product salable in the USA is salable in Canada", I think Canadian retailing would get obliterated as the Walmarts and Targets of the land could stock their Canadian stores from their US warehouses and treat them no differently than a US store in terms of inventory.
I'm not holding my breath, and will continue to keep my "Buy in USA" list full of medium and large-size purchases that won't see a single dollar spent on Canadian soil.
Well first Zellers and now Target are finished in Canada. I feel sorry for the Canadian based employees who only found out today. Retailing seems to be in a very tough environment here.
The official press release about it, Target Corporation | Target Canada Granted CCAA Order. Stock price is getting a bit of a pop today, jumped 3.59 3.6% at the opening, now hovering around 2.7% against a down US market.
Normal people… believe that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain’t broke, it doesn’t have enough features yet. – Scott Adams