Microsoft's flagship product the operating system "Windows" will yet again reach new lows in sucky UIs. Firefox and others to follow suit. Mozilla spokesperson has stated: "We will not be outdone by neither Windows nor Internet Explorer. We promise to bring you a product that surely will eclipse anything Microsoft has ever produced and bring more suck to the world, open source style!".
On a more somber note. Mozilla, stop following Microsoft and do what you originally did with Firefox, outdo them. Seriously can't be that hard, honestly.
Do people still use that? Either way, why not try to improve your hiring processes instead of treating all your employees like criminals. If you do treat me like a criminal and give me the punishment, I do feel obliged to get to do the crime as well...
There is one problem with it, and it is not the fault of Apple. Since the distribution rights are owned by a silly amount of silly people in a silly amount of different countries, those countries won't get movies distributed in iTunes.
Apparently they see some magic gain in *not* making their product available in *preferred* distribution channels. Basically they are assholes twice over. First to their customers (us), and then to their shareholders (why aren't we making money? Oh, because the distributers are assholes who don't want to *sell* our products).
Set the distribution rights free, drop DRM, and make the products available in the preferred way (internet, and no, that do *NOT* mean through some crap IE webbrowser crap solution with sub par quality), yadda, yadda, yadda. Most of you guys on slashdot gets this.
If they can't release an OS that is better than the one before the previous version, they should not release it at all. Win 7 needs to be good enough to *replace* XP for at the very least 95% of all the users. There will always be someone screaming for a previous version, but not like this, not like what happened with Vista.
And the ironic thing is, Microsoft has the money, the personnel, the knowhow, and the means to do this. What they lack is vision, guts, and leadership.
Has the EEF requested a meeting with Obama and Biden to discuss this with them? They really should do so. Whining on the web will not change a thing about this.
As usual you can screw things up in C++, but the point is that if you code using references and don't adhere to unneeded & and * trickery you can more easily spot problems in your code.
This is the very reason I do not like C++, because you always get people writing a lot of trickery that ends up as a lot of defects and problems. It requires a whole lot more out of the developers if you are going to use C++. A whole lot more.
I also want to add that in all fairness the above poster might very well understand the true reason for references and just wanted to point out that noone using C++ will ever be safe.
Null references makes me sad sad sad. People creating them on purpose (not that you did, as that was an example) makes me unhappy.
To add to the above poster, null references are not just the worst kind, but would render you a stern lecture from someone like me if you ever tried it in a real product.
The Humane Society and ASPCA are two great examples of organizations, in the united states of America, that do not even remotely make money and only work for the benefit of those weaker than us. Reward doesn't have to be wads of cash. Wanting a reward is not evil after all. And socialism doesn't stop CEOs from being greedy bastards. Look at the board of directors for Volvo. Worse value for money can't be found on this earth.
The big question with open source is how to fund it and how to deal with the total cost of ownership and responsibility.
Look at all the predictions when it comes to Apples products, and then see how many of them are actually true. Remove the people who actually just happen to guess right (they usually have other, incorrect, guesses as well), and you'll end up with precious few. And we can't be sure even they knew, but rather guessed one way or another.
So, why, should I give a damn about what the same people are guessing regarding Steve Jobs? The man owes me nothing and I will leave him alone regarding all personal issues.
I do. I'm a software engineer and know that stuff pretty well. I also know that Microsoft employes a lot of people. I think around 90k or so, the number slips my mind. They do have the resources to go through let's say IE, IIS, and MSN messenger. Those three alone should stop a lot of holes and buy them quite a lot of good will from people like us, who knows their way around computers. Let's face it, we influence the people around us and what they buy. And I don't help any family running windows any more.
So what if Microsoft don't want to do something about the real problems of Vista? Or rather windows in general. Then they will ensure that slowly but surely they will loose ground until they are faced with having to write a new operating system, something they don't seem to have the guts to do. (For those screaming legacy, I am sure MS could easily emulate all the old stuff).
That being said, Microsoft can easily afford a 100 man team (far greater than OpenBSD could ever hope for) and start auditing their code, as well as improve their processes. They might have a lot more code, but they have a lot more resources, and if they don't even start, they will never finish. And that is just one of Windows problems, there are many more.
So until then, people will find the alternatives. I know I have. And so will my family. Heck, I am close to donating this very macbook to my sister just so I don't ever have hear about her very crappy Acer not remotely working as it should.
Most people choose the simplest and easiest alternative. I have an excellent internet connection by most standards, access to whatever I want because I have enough connections to get the access needed, but I still buy games off Steam. Why? Because it is both faster and more convenient than pirating. I don't have to go to a store, I don't have to have stupid CD/DVD installations, I don't have to get some halfwit bunch of rar files that goes into freaking daemon tools and crap and more crap.
With steam I simply choose a game, fill in some shit, and it is downloading directly to where I can play it. No irritating installation, no CDs, etc. The only game on my PC I've gotten in some other manner is Warhammer: Online. I haven't even freaking pirated a game.
So Valve has got the right idea for sure. The only thing that could come in the way is DRM, get that shit away from me. So here's a tip for all the game developers out there:
1. Don't make a game that sucks 2. Do not, ever, spend time on DRM, put that money and effort on 1 instead 3. Put it on steam 4. Profit
Now I just want Valve to get a Linux (not that I actually care) and a Mac version (which I do care about), because that would be awesome:)
Oh, and Valve, keep having those great special prices on bundles. That way I can get old games that I never had the time to check out and enjoy them too. Just do force the developers to update all games to a baseline (my 1680x1050 res wasn't liked by a certain game...).
Ever typed on a French keyboard? Or mayhap a Swedish one? Keyboard layouts aren't that darn perfect for all languages as it is right now, I'd love to see a completely new layout (incl number of keys) that are more compatible with the major languages that uses roughly the same characters. Take a generic sample of each of the target languages, run a nice little sexy algorithm over it, and then see how close they get, and then run a new algorithm over that to smooth out edges. Voila, it is not that complicated.
Dvork in all it's glory, but what material was it based on? I have an idea but am not 100%. but I am quite sure it's not that 2008:)
If Microsoft audited their code and used the same kind of measures that OpenBSD does, they would be miles ahead of were they are now. Security models and sandboxes in all their glory, but a *lot* of the problems are down to faulty code, code that Microsoft owns and can audit and freaking fix. Only after they have done that can we talk security models and such things. With all the bugs and holes it is so easy to attack windows that nobody really will care about trying to do anything on a grander scale.
I say work 6 hour days instead, no overtime, no crisis, no nothing. Plan ahead and plan well, update your plans every week. If I work 6 hours, the next day I will be fully functioning and I will be very effective. Working 10+ hours will make me very ineffective and more mistakes will be made, less constructive solutions will be taken, and the quality of the code will be worse. High quality code is the key here, and it can't be created by tired, overworked, and worn out people. You can't keep up the intensity nor concentration if you don't get enough time away from it for personal stuff and sleep (not being able to get your personal stuff done / spend time with your friends and family will stress you out!).
Btw, my quick definition of quality code:
* Easily readable by everyone working with it * Documented (not the same as commented) * Unit tested fully before it is checked in and passing 100%, every time, all the time * 100% of all tests always passing on your "main line" so your software is always in shipping condition * Refactored and redesign on a continous basis to make sure adding to and changing the code is as painless as possible
And you will not get that from stressing the shit out of people!
(If in the zone, a 12h shift can be very effective, anyone doing so should get the next day off to rest up)
The scary thing, for Microsoft, is that 15% of its workforce could produce the next Windows, where any old Windows is emulated and they can start with a clean slate to get everything right. That could actually counter some of the problems the company has ran into because of Vista, a system plagued by inconsistency, a general feeling of not being done yet, and a poor performance experience.
Hopefully something good will come out of this, with the canned employees starting up new businesses and hopefully creating something new and exciting. The few Microsoft engineers I've met personally have all been very nice and competent, a far cry from the companies reputation.
They really do not get it, which is sad. No amount of trickery is going to stop anyone from getting the movie off the internet, be it FTP, BT, or whatever. Fair prices, good products and what do you know, people might actually buy their products. DRM will not solve a single problem for anyone but those who produces the DRM software, and to be honest, screw them!
They are all three good languages, that are good for programming in. They aren't related to some kind of stupid advocacy nor inflated egos. Knowing any of these will teach you about important programming concepts and give you a good start to becoming a software engineer.
Java on the other hand is a very poor choice. In my career (10 years) I've met many "Java Programmers". They all sucked, every one of them. It seems like all one trick ponies that gets thought only Java, or never ended up grasping any other language, never really understands the art of programing. I've known many Software Engineers on the other hand that did know how to program Java, among other languages, and many of them have been very good at what they do. This leads me to belive that Java is a horrible choice to teach. It's easy to pick up, it's easy to use, but it is not a good programing language at all. There is 0 need to teach it. Any half way decent softie should pick it up in a week.
I'm going to end with a brilliant qoute (which I am paraphraising, probably badly) by Jimmy Nilsson (google him!): "Everyone should learn a new language every year".
So you might have a first language you learn, but if that is also your last, do not bother...
PS Lua and Javascript are two other great languages to teach. And if you are teaching kids they can have imidiate use of it as well. Addons for MMORPGs and webapps:) "
"What's great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it..."
-- Andy Warhol
In WoW or WAR I am on the same turf as everybody else. My character isn't limited to my bank account, my status, my job, be it good or bad. This maintains the fragile illusion of these games, that you are in fact someone else. This shatters completely as soon as you bring reality (in this case money) into the game. Be it micro-payments or macro-payments, the alternate reality is broken and dead. Spock no longer just have a little beard, he also has purple hair and moonboots.
This is just a combination of poor games and greed. Instead of improving the product (or replacing it) or being happy with what you got, they hope to make more money this way. I won't fall for it myself and I hope others won't either. This decision was taken by someone with dollar signs in front of their eyes, not someone who dreams of Jedis, Orcs, and Elfs. I only play games made by and ran by fellow dreamers.
Stop pushing OSS / FOSS / Linux etc in the same way that religious people do. At least certain very large groups of religious people. Why do Linux have to be so fantastically morally superior all the time? Why do everyone who doesn't run Linux have to be unfaithful and evil and bad? I don't run Linux (actively) on any of my computers, am I a bad person somehow? Why push Linux as if you would go to hell unless all computers on earth runs it?
It's enough to burn a CD or DVD and offer to help with installation / usage. Make them dual boot. Show them an alternative and then let them make their own choice. That is freedom, that is choice. Which is far from the GNU/GPL is morally superior crap that just pisses me off. I personally prefer BSD that way.
Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft's flagship product the operating system "Windows" will yet again reach new lows in sucky UIs. Firefox and others to follow suit. Mozilla spokesperson has stated: "We will not be outdone by neither Windows nor Internet Explorer. We promise to bring you a product that surely will eclipse anything Microsoft has ever produced and bring more suck to the world, open source style!".
On a more somber note. Mozilla, stop following Microsoft and do what you originally did with Firefox, outdo them. Seriously can't be that hard, honestly.
Do people still use that? Either way, why not try to improve your hiring processes instead of treating all your employees like criminals. If you do treat me like a criminal and give me the punishment, I do feel obliged to get to do the crime as well...
I voted for "piratpartiet" (The Pirate Party). Who did you vote for?
This whole things reeks of making-stuff-up!
Time to actually use the US "hackers" to teach important US computer users something about security, and demand more of it from the manufacturers.
Or start using OpenVMS for all important stuff. That OS is nice:)
There is one problem with it, and it is not the fault of Apple. Since the distribution rights are owned by a silly amount of silly people in a silly amount of different countries, those countries won't get movies distributed in iTunes.
Apparently they see some magic gain in *not* making their product available in *preferred* distribution channels. Basically they are assholes twice over. First to their customers (us), and then to their shareholders (why aren't we making money? Oh, because the distributers are assholes who don't want to *sell* our products).
Set the distribution rights free, drop DRM, and make the products available in the preferred way (internet, and no, that do *NOT* mean through some crap IE webbrowser crap solution with sub par quality), yadda, yadda, yadda. Most of you guys on slashdot gets this.
If they can't release an OS that is better than the one before the previous version, they should not release it at all. Win 7 needs to be good enough to *replace* XP for at the very least 95% of all the users. There will always be someone screaming for a previous version, but not like this, not like what happened with Vista.
And the ironic thing is, Microsoft has the money, the personnel, the knowhow, and the means to do this. What they lack is vision, guts, and leadership.
This just sounds like a translation from "CEO" to "normal human being English" to me... Now everyone can know how bailout money and CEOs function!
Has the EEF requested a meeting with Obama and Biden to discuss this with them? They really should do so. Whining on the web will not change a thing about this.
As usual you can screw things up in C++, but the point is that if you code using references and don't adhere to unneeded & and * trickery you can more easily spot problems in your code.
This is the very reason I do not like C++, because you always get people writing a lot of trickery that ends up as a lot of defects and problems. It requires a whole lot more out of the developers if you are going to use C++. A whole lot more.
I also want to add that in all fairness the above poster might very well understand the true reason for references and just wanted to point out that noone using C++ will ever be safe.
*cringe*
Null references makes me sad sad sad. People creating them on purpose (not that you did, as that was an example) makes me unhappy.
To add to the above poster, null references are not just the worst kind, but would render you a stern lecture from someone like me if you ever tried it in a real product.
I would assume that "Real US Citizen" means born in the US since what you become when you get a citizenship is a naturalized citizen.
The Humane Society and ASPCA are two great examples of organizations, in the united states of America, that do not even remotely make money and only work for the benefit of those weaker than us. Reward doesn't have to be wads of cash. Wanting a reward is not evil after all. And socialism doesn't stop CEOs from being greedy bastards. Look at the board of directors for Volvo. Worse value for money can't be found on this earth.
The big question with open source is how to fund it and how to deal with the total cost of ownership and responsibility.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Kucinich
Read it.
Look at all the predictions when it comes to Apples products, and then see how many of them are actually true. Remove the people who actually just happen to guess right (they usually have other, incorrect, guesses as well), and you'll end up with precious few. And we can't be sure even they knew, but rather guessed one way or another.
So, why, should I give a damn about what the same people are guessing regarding Steve Jobs? The man owes me nothing and I will leave him alone regarding all personal issues.
All the lying "journalists" on the other hand...
I do. I'm a software engineer and know that stuff pretty well. I also know that Microsoft employes a lot of people. I think around 90k or so, the number slips my mind. They do have the resources to go through let's say IE, IIS, and MSN messenger. Those three alone should stop a lot of holes and buy them quite a lot of good will from people like us, who knows their way around computers. Let's face it, we influence the people around us and what they buy. And I don't help any family running windows any more.
So what if Microsoft don't want to do something about the real problems of Vista? Or rather windows in general. Then they will ensure that slowly but surely they will loose ground until they are faced with having to write a new operating system, something they don't seem to have the guts to do. (For those screaming legacy, I am sure MS could easily emulate all the old stuff).
That being said, Microsoft can easily afford a 100 man team (far greater than OpenBSD could ever hope for) and start auditing their code, as well as improve their processes. They might have a lot more code, but they have a lot more resources, and if they don't even start, they will never finish. And that is just one of Windows problems, there are many more.
So until then, people will find the alternatives. I know I have. And so will my family. Heck, I am close to donating this very macbook to my sister just so I don't ever have hear about her very crappy Acer not remotely working as it should.
Most people choose the simplest and easiest alternative. I have an excellent internet connection by most standards, access to whatever I want because I have enough connections to get the access needed, but I still buy games off Steam. Why? Because it is both faster and more convenient than pirating. I don't have to go to a store, I don't have to have stupid CD/DVD installations, I don't have to get some halfwit bunch of rar files that goes into freaking daemon tools and crap and more crap.
With steam I simply choose a game, fill in some shit, and it is downloading directly to where I can play it. No irritating installation, no CDs, etc. The only game on my PC I've gotten in some other manner is Warhammer: Online. I haven't even freaking pirated a game.
So Valve has got the right idea for sure. The only thing that could come in the way is DRM, get that shit away from me. So here's a tip for all the game developers out there:
1. Don't make a game that sucks
2. Do not, ever, spend time on DRM, put that money and effort on 1 instead
3. Put it on steam
4. Profit
Now I just want Valve to get a Linux (not that I actually care) and a Mac version (which I do care about), because that would be awesome:)
Oh, and Valve, keep having those great special prices on bundles. That way I can get old games that I never had the time to check out and enjoy them too. Just do force the developers to update all games to a baseline (my 1680x1050 res wasn't liked by a certain game...).
Ever typed on a French keyboard? Or mayhap a Swedish one? Keyboard layouts aren't that darn perfect for all languages as it is right now, I'd love to see a completely new layout (incl number of keys) that are more compatible with the major languages that uses roughly the same characters. Take a generic sample of each of the target languages, run a nice little sexy algorithm over it, and then see how close they get, and then run a new algorithm over that to smooth out edges. Voila, it is not that complicated.
Dvork in all it's glory, but what material was it based on? I have an idea but am not 100%. but I am quite sure it's not that 2008 :)
If Microsoft audited their code and used the same kind of measures that OpenBSD does, they would be miles ahead of were they are now. Security models and sandboxes in all their glory, but a *lot* of the problems are down to faulty code, code that Microsoft owns and can audit and freaking fix. Only after they have done that can we talk security models and such things. With all the bugs and holes it is so easy to attack windows that nobody really will care about trying to do anything on a grander scale.
I say work 6 hour days instead, no overtime, no crisis, no nothing. Plan ahead and plan well, update your plans every week. If I work 6 hours, the next day I will be fully functioning and I will be very effective. Working 10+ hours will make me very ineffective and more mistakes will be made, less constructive solutions will be taken, and the quality of the code will be worse. High quality code is the key here, and it can't be created by tired, overworked, and worn out people. You can't keep up the intensity nor concentration if you don't get enough time away from it for personal stuff and sleep (not being able to get your personal stuff done / spend time with your friends and family will stress you out!).
Btw, my quick definition of quality code:
* Easily readable by everyone working with it
* Documented (not the same as commented)
* Unit tested fully before it is checked in and passing 100%, every time, all the time
* 100% of all tests always passing on your "main line" so your software is always in shipping condition
* Refactored and redesign on a continous basis to make sure adding to and changing the code is as painless as possible
And you will not get that from stressing the shit out of people!
(If in the zone, a 12h shift can be very effective, anyone doing so should get the next day off to rest up)
The scary thing, for Microsoft, is that 15% of its workforce could produce the next Windows, where any old Windows is emulated and they can start with a clean slate to get everything right. That could actually counter some of the problems the company has ran into because of Vista, a system plagued by inconsistency, a general feeling of not being done yet, and a poor performance experience.
Hopefully something good will come out of this, with the canned employees starting up new businesses and hopefully creating something new and exciting. The few Microsoft engineers I've met personally have all been very nice and competent, a far cry from the companies reputation.
They really do not get it, which is sad. No amount of trickery is going to stop anyone from getting the movie off the internet, be it FTP, BT, or whatever. Fair prices, good products and what do you know, people might actually buy their products. DRM will not solve a single problem for anyone but those who produces the DRM software, and to be honest, screw them!
They are all three good languages, that are good for programming in. They aren't related to some kind of stupid advocacy nor inflated egos. Knowing any of these will teach you about important programming concepts and give you a good start to becoming a software engineer.
Java on the other hand is a very poor choice. In my career (10 years) I've met many "Java Programmers". They all sucked, every one of them. It seems like all one trick ponies that gets thought only Java, or never ended up grasping any other language, never really understands the art of programing. I've known many Software Engineers on the other hand that did know how to program Java, among other languages, and many of them have been very good at what they do. This leads me to belive that Java is a horrible choice to teach. It's easy to pick up, it's easy to use, but it is not a good programing language at all. There is 0 need to teach it. Any half way decent softie should pick it up in a week.
I'm going to end with a brilliant qoute (which I am paraphraising, probably badly) by Jimmy Nilsson (google him!): "Everyone should learn a new language every year".
So you might have a first language you learn, but if that is also your last, do not bother...
PS Lua and Javascript are two other great languages to teach. And if you are teaching kids they can have imidiate use of it as well. Addons for MMORPGs and webapps :)
"
"What's great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it..."
-- Andy Warhol
In WoW or WAR I am on the same turf as everybody else. My character isn't limited to my bank account, my status, my job, be it good or bad. This maintains the fragile illusion of these games, that you are in fact someone else. This shatters completely as soon as you bring reality (in this case money) into the game. Be it micro-payments or macro-payments, the alternate reality is broken and dead. Spock no longer just have a little beard, he also has purple hair and moonboots.
This is just a combination of poor games and greed. Instead of improving the product (or replacing it) or being happy with what you got, they hope to make more money this way. I won't fall for it myself and I hope others won't either. This decision was taken by someone with dollar signs in front of their eyes, not someone who dreams of Jedis, Orcs, and Elfs. I only play games made by and ran by fellow dreamers.
Stop pushing OSS / FOSS / Linux etc in the same way that religious people do. At least certain very large groups of religious people. Why do Linux have to be so fantastically morally superior all the time? Why do everyone who doesn't run Linux have to be unfaithful and evil and bad? I don't run Linux (actively) on any of my computers, am I a bad person somehow? Why push Linux as if you would go to hell unless all computers on earth runs it?
It's enough to burn a CD or DVD and offer to help with installation / usage. Make them dual boot. Show them an alternative and then let them make their own choice. That is freedom, that is choice. Which is far from the GNU/GPL is morally superior crap that just pisses me off. I personally prefer BSD that way.