The scale of Microsoft's sites exacerbates the problem, but it's not the cause. I don't think Microsoft has ever had a standard look and feel across all of its sites. They just don't make unifying the look and feel a priority. It's completely doable but it's time consuming and time is money. Obviously there is either no top-down direction for site look and feel or if there is, it's got no teeth. The individual divisions all do their own thing. The total lack of consistency is evidence of that. Consistency doesn't come as a result of tinkering or playing with the look and feel. It comes from developing a standard and rigidly adhering to it.
Having spent some time trying to dig through their various sites over the years, I have to agree. The trouble is Microsoft has everything from office software suites to games. Although a cohesive design would really help navigation and usability I wouldn't envy the guy that has to try and do it. I would, however, really like to see it happen. Half the time I give up and just google something rather than try and find it using their navigation.
Saying, "I told you so," isn't nearly as much fun when you have to clean up the mess. It's always the smart guy that ends up paying the price when the dumb guy / management screw up. Who stays late and fixes the code / saves the server when things break? The guy that knows what he's doing. He may feel like a hero afterward but mostly he just feels pissed off that he had to do it at all.
I can't count the number of times I've wondered why I'm in a meeting or why I've been consulted at all. If you aren't going to respect my opinion, you needn't bother asking. It only makes it that much more depressing when I have to clean up your mess later without so much as a, "yeah, I guess you were right."
All right, time to start the ol' betting pool up. Let's guess how long it'll be before someone hacks that and just permanently steals everyone's DPP. I must say, however, it's awfully nice of them to make theft easier than ever. Why bother to leave your house when you can do it from the comfort of your office chair? If you'd like to ransom their belongings you can use the Internet for that too! Thanks Internet!
Oh man, I thought "Casino Royale" and Daniel Craig were amazing. This reboot of Bond has been truly awesome.
The gadgets in the previous iteration were just getting ridiculous by the end. I think they were trying to combat the fact that just doing something with a cell phone and GPS wasn't really that impressive anymore. Bond has always been known for having fanciful gadgets but I've really enjoyed the "back to basics" approach with Craig. The parkour sequence is a perfect example of this. That's got to be one of the best chase scenes of all time and there are no goofy gadgets or cars going off of ramps involved.
I liked Brosnan as Bond quite a lot. Unfortunately, there's only so much an actor can do to overcome a poorly thought out movie or terrible special effects. I thought the storyline and more complex plots found in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace were really compelling.
Hrm, now you've got me wanting to go back and watch some more of the older ones (Moore / Connery). It's been at least 10 years since I've watched any of them. I've forgotten most of them.
Actually you can do just about all of those things in Windows 7. You can easily add folders to the common save dialog. Although it doesn't come OOTB I know you can get some Microsoft power toy that lets you right click and open a command line anywhere. Taskbar shuffling is built-in in 7. I haven't messed with keyboard shortcuts yet, I've only been running 7 for a week or two.
Moving the users folder is annoying but if you're coding properly it shouldn't matter. It's only a hassle if you've written code or scripts that directly access it rather than asking the OS for the user folder.
As for your batch file - why would Microsoft encourage people to use the command line? Sure, for 1% of the population the command line is useful. However, these people don't need MS hand holding to get there. I couldn't imagine teaching my mom or my sister how to do anything that involves a command line. I don't even want them to know it exists - They would probably inadvertently delete the contents of their user directory.
Look, I'm not saying 7 is perfect, but I am getting tired of people whining about features it's already got or saying that XP already does everything when it doesn't.
They already made that James Bond movie and it was dreadful. It involved an invisible car and Bond surfing on a wave that looked like it came out of a 16bit video game. That's not to say I wouldn't watch a movie based on an awesome space-based solar collector destroying the word but it better be good this time.
I've actually heard about that. I heard about a fireman who was in dire straights financially. He lit a series of fires to get the additional pay that came with actually fighting a fire.
I'm really enjoying Windows 7 (aside from audio troubles in L4D). Thus far I've been impressed with the stability, performance and compatibility. I do, however, wholeheartedly agree with the assessment regarding price - it's absurd. Yes, Win 7 is a big improvement. It's also the sort of polished product one would have expected when they first bought Vista. We all know Microsoft is desperately hoping to win back some respect with Win 7. You'd think they'd have the brains to fix the pricing / packaging issues at the same time. Apparently, that's not the case.
Would I recommend it to a friend? Absolutely. Would I suggest that it's actually worth the retail price? I'm not so sure. It may be if you're upgrading from Windows XP, but if you're upgrading form Vista you're getting shafted.
TRWTF is that they get naps! Even daycare workers don't get naptime along with the kids (woah there, keep it G-rated). Although I sometimes feel like I work in a daycare, I don't get naps either. Do I have to move to NZ to get a job where I can take a nap?
Good cropland is scarce enough as it is. Urban areas are constantly expanding and turning cropland into cityscape. It doesn't make much sense to hasten this trend by effectively converting space for growing food into space for fueling our vehicles.
I swear, the only reason we continue to see these ridiculous schemes is because the fuel companies don't want to see everything go electric. It won't be long before battery technology catches up and allows us to drive a reasonable distance on a charge. (Or we could just take advantage of the various swappable battery technologies that have already been developed for cars.)
Not to mention the fact that all of those sites see far more traffic than this site ever will. Honestly, even if a generous 1% of America takes the time to go to that site over the course of an entire month you're still only looking at around 300,000 visitors. That's nothing. Previous comments regarding the cost of security and such are off base. This is a site meant for presenting information that should already be public to the public. We aren't doing financial transactions here or hiding nuclear codes.
Thank you. Now can we fix the modding on the sad comment that labeled our country a democracy? I don't know where this idea that we're a democracy came from but it's wrong. We wonder how our country got so messed up and yet its citizens don't even know what form of government we've got.
Yes please. We wonder why people are prescribed too many drugs and yet we allow the companies selling them to indoctrinate physicians and patients alike with the idea that they need more. It's insane.
Even if you could prove to me that guns were used in even half of those cases I would still say your argument has no merit. Having a gun makes no difference in those situations. If you're so pissed off that you're going to kill someone, you're going to find a way to do it. People have been beating, stabbing, bludgeoning, drowning, choking and otherwise finding ways of killing people they dislike since the dawn of man. It's foolish and naive to believe that guns have anything to do with it.
In fact, I'd say gun ownership does more to prevent crime than it does to encourage it. If I'm a big guy and I figure that I could throttle you pretty easily, but I know that you carry a gun, that may dissuade me from assaulting you. I'm not going to say with 100% certainty that it will - that would be hyperbole. I will, however, assert that it would change a lot of people's minds.
I agree. My first thought when I saw this was, "I'm not going to pay for that." I'll either do without it or get it from a different source. Most sites are pretty reasonable when it comes to ads. I really don't mind having a few ads in the margins in exchange for content. Obviously there are exceptions where ads make up 90% of your screen real estate but I avoid those sites like the plague.
Yup. Hasn't this guy watched Mythbusters? He needs to hand in his geek card - now. They shot all sorts of holes into the side of their plane and it didn't do a thing. "Bullet hole in a plane = instant plane explosion" is a huge lie.
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The scale of Microsoft's sites exacerbates the problem, but it's not the cause. I don't think Microsoft has ever had a standard look and feel across all of its sites. They just don't make unifying the look and feel a priority. It's completely doable but it's time consuming and time is money. Obviously there is either no top-down direction for site look and feel or if there is, it's got no teeth. The individual divisions all do their own thing. The total lack of consistency is evidence of that. Consistency doesn't come as a result of tinkering or playing with the look and feel. It comes from developing a standard and rigidly adhering to it.
Having spent some time trying to dig through their various sites over the years, I have to agree. The trouble is Microsoft has everything from office software suites to games. Although a cohesive design would really help navigation and usability I wouldn't envy the guy that has to try and do it. I would, however, really like to see it happen. Half the time I give up and just google something rather than try and find it using their navigation.
Did someone say.... BACON!? FF to 2:00 for applicable material!
Saying, "I told you so," isn't nearly as much fun when you have to clean up the mess. It's always the smart guy that ends up paying the price when the dumb guy / management screw up. Who stays late and fixes the code / saves the server when things break? The guy that knows what he's doing. He may feel like a hero afterward but mostly he just feels pissed off that he had to do it at all.
I can't count the number of times I've wondered why I'm in a meeting or why I've been consulted at all. If you aren't going to respect my opinion, you needn't bother asking. It only makes it that much more depressing when I have to clean up your mess later without so much as a, "yeah, I guess you were right."
All right, time to start the ol' betting pool up. Let's guess how long it'll be before someone hacks that and just permanently steals everyone's DPP. I must say, however, it's awfully nice of them to make theft easier than ever. Why bother to leave your house when you can do it from the comfort of your office chair? If you'd like to ransom their belongings you can use the Internet for that too! Thanks Internet!
Oh man, I thought "Casino Royale" and Daniel Craig were amazing. This reboot of Bond has been truly awesome.
The gadgets in the previous iteration were just getting ridiculous by the end. I think they were trying to combat the fact that just doing something with a cell phone and GPS wasn't really that impressive anymore. Bond has always been known for having fanciful gadgets but I've really enjoyed the "back to basics" approach with Craig. The parkour sequence is a perfect example of this. That's got to be one of the best chase scenes of all time and there are no goofy gadgets or cars going off of ramps involved.
I liked Brosnan as Bond quite a lot. Unfortunately, there's only so much an actor can do to overcome a poorly thought out movie or terrible special effects. I thought the storyline and more complex plots found in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace were really compelling.
Hrm, now you've got me wanting to go back and watch some more of the older ones (Moore / Connery). It's been at least 10 years since I've watched any of them. I've forgotten most of them.
This is pretty much how that'd go - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EBfxjSFAxQ
I'm familiar with "Moonraker", it's just that the weapon in "Die Another Day" is remarkably similar to the aforementioned solar power plant. :)
Actually you can do just about all of those things in Windows 7. You can easily add folders to the common save dialog. Although it doesn't come OOTB I know you can get some Microsoft power toy that lets you right click and open a command line anywhere. Taskbar shuffling is built-in in 7. I haven't messed with keyboard shortcuts yet, I've only been running 7 for a week or two.
Moving the users folder is annoying but if you're coding properly it shouldn't matter. It's only a hassle if you've written code or scripts that directly access it rather than asking the OS for the user folder.
As for your batch file - why would Microsoft encourage people to use the command line? Sure, for 1% of the population the command line is useful. However, these people don't need MS hand holding to get there. I couldn't imagine teaching my mom or my sister how to do anything that involves a command line. I don't even want them to know it exists - They would probably inadvertently delete the contents of their user directory.
Look, I'm not saying 7 is perfect, but I am getting tired of people whining about features it's already got or saying that XP already does everything when it doesn't.
They already made that James Bond movie and it was dreadful. It involved an invisible car and Bond surfing on a wave that looked like it came out of a 16bit video game. That's not to say I wouldn't watch a movie based on an awesome space-based solar collector destroying the word but it better be good this time.
I've actually heard about that. I heard about a fireman who was in dire straights financially. He lit a series of fires to get the additional pay that came with actually fighting a fire.
I'm really enjoying Windows 7 (aside from audio troubles in L4D). Thus far I've been impressed with the stability, performance and compatibility. I do, however, wholeheartedly agree with the assessment regarding price - it's absurd. Yes, Win 7 is a big improvement. It's also the sort of polished product one would have expected when they first bought Vista. We all know Microsoft is desperately hoping to win back some respect with Win 7. You'd think they'd have the brains to fix the pricing / packaging issues at the same time. Apparently, that's not the case.
Would I recommend it to a friend? Absolutely. Would I suggest that it's actually worth the retail price? I'm not so sure. It may be if you're upgrading from Windows XP, but if you're upgrading form Vista you're getting shafted.
TRWTF is that they get naps! Even daycare workers don't get naptime along with the kids (woah there, keep it G-rated). Although I sometimes feel like I work in a daycare, I don't get naps either. Do I have to move to NZ to get a job where I can take a nap?
I'm not sure whether to gouge my eyes out or to clap. Sometimes the future is depressing.
Good cropland is scarce enough as it is. Urban areas are constantly expanding and turning cropland into cityscape. It doesn't make much sense to hasten this trend by effectively converting space for growing food into space for fueling our vehicles.
I swear, the only reason we continue to see these ridiculous schemes is because the fuel companies don't want to see everything go electric. It won't be long before battery technology catches up and allows us to drive a reasonable distance on a charge. (Or we could just take advantage of the various swappable battery technologies that have already been developed for cars.)
Not to mention the fact that all of those sites see far more traffic than this site ever will. Honestly, even if a generous 1% of America takes the time to go to that site over the course of an entire month you're still only looking at around 300,000 visitors. That's nothing. Previous comments regarding the cost of security and such are off base. This is a site meant for presenting information that should already be public to the public. We aren't doing financial transactions here or hiding nuclear codes.
Thank you. Now can we fix the modding on the sad comment that labeled our country a democracy? I don't know where this idea that we're a democracy came from but it's wrong. We wonder how our country got so messed up and yet its citizens don't even know what form of government we've got.
It's because the cell providers in America are so much better... amazing coverage, great bandwidth, fair contracts... oh... wait. ~
I do sometimes defend the lack of coverage based on the sheer size of America but that doesn't excuse the deplorable pricing and contract schemes.
Yes please. We wonder why people are prescribed too many drugs and yet we allow the companies selling them to indoctrinate physicians and patients alike with the idea that they need more. It's insane.
Even if you could prove to me that guns were used in even half of those cases I would still say your argument has no merit. Having a gun makes no difference in those situations. If you're so pissed off that you're going to kill someone, you're going to find a way to do it. People have been beating, stabbing, bludgeoning, drowning, choking and otherwise finding ways of killing people they dislike since the dawn of man. It's foolish and naive to believe that guns have anything to do with it.
In fact, I'd say gun ownership does more to prevent crime than it does to encourage it. If I'm a big guy and I figure that I could throttle you pretty easily, but I know that you carry a gun, that may dissuade me from assaulting you. I'm not going to say with 100% certainty that it will - that would be hyperbole. I will, however, assert that it would change a lot of people's minds.
Ooooh. Well that explains why I got such lousy results when I searched for, "Should I punch Bill Gates in the face?"
I agree. My first thought when I saw this was, "I'm not going to pay for that." I'll either do without it or get it from a different source. Most sites are pretty reasonable when it comes to ads. I really don't mind having a few ads in the margins in exchange for content. Obviously there are exceptions where ads make up 90% of your screen real estate but I avoid those sites like the plague.
Yup. Hasn't this guy watched Mythbusters? He needs to hand in his geek card - now. They shot all sorts of holes into the side of their plane and it didn't do a thing. "Bullet hole in a plane = instant plane explosion" is a huge lie.
Even more so if she's your ex-wife.
It's no different than the appendix. Apparently, unless its function is obvious, we're not too good at figuring these things out.