I wonder if you graphed the change in mass if you would see the rate of change slowly increasing and that it would lead to the mass being 0 around the end of 2012?
Exactly, I don't think we can consider this seriously until we are much closer to actually having the project ready to launch. Even then I don't really think it will be a matter of putting your hands up to volunteer. I'm sure the crew will be selected from a small group of already highly trained and experienced people.
Anyways, even though it would probably start off as a one way trip, what's to say that a few years down the track technology hasn't improved enough to get them back. Especially with the pace at which it seems to be improving now that private enterprise is getting into the game.
Interestingly there was a similar discussion on this at CreativityGames.net a few months ago.
Agree completely with this. Not only that but a skilled educator can give you challenges (ie tut work and assessments) that will push you and develop your understanding further than you realise it needs to go.
I like to use the game of Mastermind as an example. It's one thing to know the rules. It's another completely to understand how you go about cracking the code. I have found this game to be a good way to show many students that they need to improve their problem solving ability and logical thinking.
I think the distinction here is not that he couldn't learn the interface but that he doesn't prefer it.
It's just one of those things. Because everyone has different tastes and habits and are doing different types of work in different ways, everyone will be different in which type of interface suits them best.
People also have to adjust to new interfaces and mindsets in doing things and people will take varying amounts of time to adjust to new interfaces (depending on a lot of factors such as how long they have been using the old interface, how pleased they were with the old interface, how often they've had to change previously etc).
As a side note I believe that exposing yourself to as many different ideas and approaches in terms of doing things is your best bet. eg. I have myself set up so that I use Windows, OSX and Linux (both KDE and Gnome), widescreen/ not widescreen, single monitor/ dual monitor etc fairly equally and have discovered a lot from all of them about how I can organise myself and my interface to be the most efficient. It's much better to understand how and why rather than to try and apply labels of better and worse.
This is a great post. Just to add my bit on top of this. I forget who said it but one quote I quite like is:
"The most important thing is to keep the most important thing the most important thing."
At the end of the day your task is to get a job done and a large part of that is going to be managing information flow and keeping it flowing as freely as possible between yourself and everyone else involved (management, end users, you, other developers etc). Simple things such as a big whiteboard, a properly laid out intranet and just walking around talking to people can be a huge asset in achieving this.
You know, whenever I see the url for their site I read it as ada-moby-dell and conjure up these images of an object oriented, ambient sounding business PC. Then I see these reviews and wonder if that's maybe what they were aiming for.
I'll agree with you that there are more polished distributions out there. That's not the point however. The point is that there is choice and that's great. There is no real lock in, it's really easy for you to go with whichever distro you prefer. Also that anyone can enter the market with their own distro with little effort.
I think it's great to see people diving in and having a go. Not everyone will succeed but that's life. I'm not certain but I would hazard a guess that most of the other major distro's had similar beginnings to this and weren't as polished as they are now when they first started.
You touch on an interesting point here. The typical usage of a desktop PC involves having several programs open and regularly switching between them. They have larger screens and can give up some of that space to allow for easily switching between and managing those programs.
A netbook however will have a smaller screen and typically be used for a single task at a time ie web browsing. So it would make sense to have an interface that allows for having programs maximised etc. This is where I reckon a tweaked Linux GUI could do much better than the standard Windows GUI.
Part of the difference, though the AppStore is not the only example of this, is that you can get in on the action with minimal effort. Blogs are similar in this respect. You end up with a large amount of mediocrity but if they're having fun then as far as I can see they have still succeeded.
If I were to start a business that would require resources on top of my time and effort. With this the resources are minimal so I've only wasted time and effort. If I feel like it I can keep doing so without major loss.
Whether the legal and/ or business logic behind this is correct or not I reckon the guy makes an interesting point (even if written in childish blabber).
Normally MS seems to want to do everything in it's power to make sure it's products continue to be used everywhere. Their actions in this situation do seem to not follow that logic. It will be interesting to see if a lot of companies do switch to open source software.
I know they're not available now but it looks like they may not be too far off. (I actually don't know much about these so if someone knows why they wouldn't be viable I'd be interested to know)
I look at it this way. These guys identified something they thought would sell. They made it. Now they are distributing it. Great for them.
You can sit there and whine that this isn't what we should be focusing on but if a lot of others are interested in it, and it sells, and you aren't doing anything to promote your ideas, then I reckon just let it be.
I've heard this referred to as 'fast food' for the mind.
You get the information quickly but haven't had to do the extra work behind realising it so you don't have the same overall understanding of what that piece of information actually represents.
Indeed. We seem to be evolving a culture where we try to solve every problem with technology. Sometimes technology is not the answer. Sometimes you have to realise that technology is not curing the problem, it is just solving a symptom. And like most diseases, it will simply evolve around your attempt.
I could be wrong here but I totally agree with what you are saying, however only with respect to power users. For them these new interface ideas do nothing at all.
For casual users however, with no or little training, that just want to do a simple task and move on, and which make up a large market. I feel that these new technologies provide the potential to make more intuitive interfaces (but only if done correctly).
I guess there just isn't the excitement surrounding those endeavors.
Most people will look at the situation and say "we need to make something new and better and shiny" rather than "can we refine our existing technology"
I've sometimes wondered about a similar concept however never been able to get around the fact that I quite like the tactile feedback of my keyboard. (admittedly I've never touch typed on a touch screen so I don't know how it would feel to compare)
I still feel that the there are gains to be made in reorganising our current desktop interfaces to better fit around our workflows.
eg. I think a way to intuitively pipe data around gui apps (ala unix filters)(including data from web pages) would do a lot more to streamline people's work than a fancy touch interface.
Slashdot Mirror
I wonder if you graphed the change in mass if you would see the rate of change slowly increasing and that it would lead to the mass being 0 around the end of 2012?
No, you'd need a SPAM radio for that
Looks much better on my iPad. Well done guys
I find it quite interesting that this story comes straight after one that refers to insects and Jurassic Park.
Coincidence, I think not.
It may no longer be open source but that won't really stop them will it.
Interesting times ahead indeed.
Exactly, I don't think we can consider this seriously until we are much closer to actually having the project ready to launch. Even then I don't really think it will be a matter of putting your hands up to volunteer. I'm sure the crew will be selected from a small group of already highly trained and experienced people.
Anyways, even though it would probably start off as a one way trip, what's to say that a few years down the track technology hasn't improved enough to get them back. Especially with the pace at which it seems to be improving now that private enterprise is getting into the game.
Interestingly there was a similar discussion on this at CreativityGames.net a few months ago.
Agree completely with this. Not only that but a skilled educator can give you challenges (ie tut work and assessments) that will push you and develop your understanding further than you realise it needs to go.
I like to use the game of Mastermind as an example. It's one thing to know the rules. It's another completely to understand how you go about cracking the code. I have found this game to be a good way to show many students that they need to improve their problem solving ability and logical thinking.
I think the distinction here is not that he couldn't learn the interface but that he doesn't prefer it.
It's just one of those things. Because everyone has different tastes and habits and are doing different types of work in different ways, everyone will be different in which type of interface suits them best.
People also have to adjust to new interfaces and mindsets in doing things and people will take varying amounts of time to adjust to new interfaces (depending on a lot of factors such as how long they have been using the old interface, how pleased they were with the old interface, how often they've had to change previously etc).
As a side note I believe that exposing yourself to as many different ideas and approaches in terms of doing things is your best bet. eg. I have myself set up so that I use Windows, OSX and Linux (both KDE and Gnome), widescreen/ not widescreen, single monitor/ dual monitor etc fairly equally and have discovered a lot from all of them about how I can organise myself and my interface to be the most efficient. It's much better to understand how and why rather than to try and apply labels of better and worse.
Actually, I just remembered who the quote is by:
Donald P. Coduto, from the book "Foundation design"
This is a great post. Just to add my bit on top of this. I forget who said it but one quote I quite like is:
"The most important thing is to keep the most important thing the most important thing."
At the end of the day your task is to get a job done and a large part of that is going to be managing information flow and keeping it flowing as freely as possible between yourself and everyone else involved (management, end users, you, other developers etc). Simple things such as a big whiteboard, a properly laid out intranet and just walking around talking to people can be a huge asset in achieving this.
You know, whenever I see the url for their site I read it as ada-moby-dell and conjure up these images of an object oriented, ambient sounding business PC. Then I see these reviews and wonder if that's maybe what they were aiming for.
I'll agree with you that there are more polished distributions out there. That's not the point however. The point is that there is choice and that's great. There is no real lock in, it's really easy for you to go with whichever distro you prefer. Also that anyone can enter the market with their own distro with little effort.
I think it's great to see people diving in and having a go. Not everyone will succeed but that's life. I'm not certain but I would hazard a guess that most of the other major distro's had similar beginnings to this and weren't as polished as they are now when they first started.
He's also quite mad if he's a brainwashed duck that thinks he's a sheep.
It's largely a matter of mindset I reckon. You always tend to think the best interface is the one you're most comfortable with.
I find that technical people are more adept at changing to new technologies however. We can get the new UI and understand it's uses much easier.
You touch on an interesting point here. The typical usage of a desktop PC involves having several programs open and regularly switching between them. They have larger screens and can give up some of that space to allow for easily switching between and managing those programs.
A netbook however will have a smaller screen and typically be used for a single task at a time ie web browsing. So it would make sense to have an interface that allows for having programs maximised etc. This is where I reckon a tweaked Linux GUI could do much better than the standard Windows GUI.
Part of the difference, though the AppStore is not the only example of this, is that you can get in on the action with minimal effort. Blogs are similar in this respect. You end up with a large amount of mediocrity but if they're having fun then as far as I can see they have still succeeded.
If I were to start a business that would require resources on top of my time and effort. With this the resources are minimal so I've only wasted time and effort. If I feel like it I can keep doing so without major loss.
Whether the legal and/ or business logic behind this is correct or not I reckon the guy makes an interesting point (even if written in childish blabber).
Normally MS seems to want to do everything in it's power to make sure it's products continue to be used everywhere. Their actions in this situation do seem to not follow that logic. It will be interesting to see if a lot of companies do switch to open source software.
That may be true. What about nuclear batteries however?
New 'Nuclear Battery' Runs 10 Years, 10 Times More Powerful
Nuclear Battery in Your Laptop
I know they're not available now but it looks like they may not be too far off. (I actually don't know much about these so if someone knows why they wouldn't be viable I'd be interested to know)
Have you had a look at Novell's Zenworks suite? Zenworks
I look at it this way. These guys identified something they thought would sell. They made it. Now they are distributing it. Great for them.
You can sit there and whine that this isn't what we should be focusing on but if a lot of others are interested in it, and it sells, and you aren't doing anything to promote your ideas, then I reckon just let it be.
I've heard this referred to as 'fast food' for the mind.
You get the information quickly but haven't had to do the extra work behind realising it so you don't have the same overall understanding of what that piece of information actually represents.
Indeed. We seem to be evolving a culture where we try to solve every problem with technology. Sometimes technology is not the answer. Sometimes you have to realise that technology is not curing the problem, it is just solving a symptom. And like most diseases, it will simply evolve around your attempt.
I could be wrong here but I totally agree with what you are saying, however only with respect to power users. For them these new interface ideas do nothing at all.
For casual users however, with no or little training, that just want to do a simple task and move on, and which make up a large market. I feel that these new technologies provide the potential to make more intuitive interfaces (but only if done correctly).
I guess there just isn't the excitement surrounding those endeavors.
Most people will look at the situation and say "we need to make something new and better and shiny" rather than "can we refine our existing technology"
I've sometimes wondered about a similar concept however never been able to get around the fact that I quite like the tactile feedback of my keyboard. (admittedly I've never touch typed on a touch screen so I don't know how it would feel to compare)
I still feel that the there are gains to be made in reorganising our current desktop interfaces to better fit around our workflows.
eg. I think a way to intuitively pipe data around gui apps (ala unix filters)(including data from web pages) would do a lot more to streamline people's work than a fancy touch interface.