There are indeed too many people quick to try and cite Darwinism without actually knowing what Darwinism is. Probably a lot of "we support science!" types also who get it wrong.
I had a Sharp calculator in high school, avoiding the whole HP vs TI gang wars. I liked it very much. Kept me going in high school, college, work, and was even in use in grad school after that. Doesn't work now, but it's the early generation LCD display that is busted.
Companies do this at times, usually because it helps out the short term finances. Especially if the company is on the decline but the name still has value. Getting that short term cash can help the company stabilize. Sometimes after a lot of growth the company may not be able to manage it all and wants to push out a side line with its name to an outsourcer.
I have been amazed at home many stupid ideas actually succeed, and succeed over their smarter competition. And have sort of gotten used to the idea that smart concepts die out. One dumb idea in the bowl full of brilliance can ruin it all.
That doesn't mean being smart of stupid doesn't matter. Being smart makes the random successes succeed even better, and being dumb lessens the success or shortens the lifetime of it.
Really, I've seen no good input keyboard on a smart phone. Maybe with extensive training but I'd rather use a real keyboard. I spend more time correcting the spelling from the stupid spell checkers, then fixing the same spelling a second time because the spell checker goes beyond stupid, and trying to position the cursor where it needs to be because there are no arrow keys for this, ugh. I can write things out faster on a palm pilot and with less training.
I'm not the only one with the problem, I can tell when email is sent from a phone because I have to do the translation of the resulting spell check into what was originally intended.
But it is a fundamentally stupid idea. There is no need for it. So what if some users want it, let them use a plug in or other tool if they insist on automatically executing code received over the network.
You forgot the part about going to school and getting an advanced degree. If you want someone to actually hire you for a job that normally insists on an advanced degree. Of course, if someone actually manages building some AI stuff on their own and writes a paper about it and gets it published, then maybe you can skip that part.
It is not thing you teach yourself while skipping the university though. Whenever I hear a question of "how can I get into this field", the usual answer is to get the degree first. For AI, this is even more true. AI is not a settled field where you can use technicians. AI is research, there will be no play book to follow, no software components to tie together with duck tape. For today's practical AI applications, there is no CS field that is optional, you will need math, high level languages, assembly programming, more math, hardware understanding, algorithm analysis, applied math, statistics and probability, databases, algorithms and data structures, and maybe a few electives in neurology.
Now it's not impossible to do it on your own. But employers and universities may not believe you and insist on seeing those diplomas. Having written a few papers with leading experts though may make the diploma optional.
Do I make this sound too daunting? It is daunting. It is a research oriented job.
Education is the answer. AI is not one of those learn at home jobs so you can get an IT help desk position for life. You need the university. And AI is very broad, it's not just a class or 2. You want a mix of EE and mathematics for the neural net and machine learning, classical AI background. And plenty of theory, never skip out on the theory, no one knows what skills are needed in the future for AI or where the trends go, and theory is necessary for that. Basically, it's a PhD job if you ever want to do more than just follow.
Lack of procedure is a major problem. People who want that may not really be experienced, or as much as they think they are... Lack of organization is a major flaw...
Yes, but with startups you can have brilliant people, rarely, but almost always there's little coordination as procedures haven't been set up yet. Plus a constant non-ending rush to meet short deadlines, with demos needing to be done often and no time to slow down and take stock of what's going on.
Welcome to startups. It's very good experience straight out of school to know just how screwed up startups are and to avoid them for the rest of the career.
Apple can afford this attitude, their bread and butter comes from fans who upgrade constantly for a premium price and they can make a good profit even if they flip their finger at the customers still running Leopard or iPhone 3. Other companies however make their bread and butter from the commodity markets, Microsoft does not want to give up the OEM market even though this is a much more difficult customer base to support in the long term; and with lots of companies already moving towards non-Windows platforms for production and R&D it would be risky for Microsoft to piss off the enterprise market as well (although it seems they are trying this risk more often these days).
I have 64 bit OSX, with VMware running 32-bit Windows. It works better than the 64-bit windows in VMware, though nowhere near as fast and spiffy as 32-bit Linux in VMware.
There are 64-bit capable computers that just aren't powerful enough for modern bloatware and you will get better performance from the 32-bit system. Remember the big mistake of the "Ready for Vista" computers that couldn't run Vista.
Apple has some computers that are nice to use, but overall they're about high end fashionable consumer devices with high margins. They can afford to piss off a fraction of their market that doesn't update hardware yearly and still make a good profit. Other companies though need as many customers as they can get and aren't as quick to insult them.
There are enough consumer grade PCs still out there that can't run a 64-bit OS that they'd have had a premature migration to other systems if Windows 7 pr 8 had be 64-bit only. First rule of business is don't piss off your customers, and Microsoft on rare occasions actually remembers this rule.
Whining about how hard it is to support your customers should not be done in public, it's just bad business.
MRI is a bit of a stretch, they're not going to run basic Windows if they're smart - although most do have some front end that's a PC/Windows box because managers and executives aren't necessarily smart. But they can be PCs that still ahve 32-bit CPUs. Why not? If it's not broken then don't fix it!
There are some expensive medical equipment makers that do go and stockpile parts so that they can still be used beyond the part's end-of-life. If you use commodity parts in a mission critical system then that's what you need to do. If you want longer and higher quality support then you dump Windows and get Linux.
Look, 32-bit CPUs work! We also have 16 and 8 bit CPUs still in wide use. Founders of cloud startups shouldn't worry about this, they're only selling their product to consumer technophiles anyway.
At a previous building I noticed very quickly that the parking lot on friday had many many more free spaces when I'd arrive than normal (I'd show up 10-ish). In summers it felt practically deserted at times, even if there was an urgent deadline. Got so bad they stopped serving lunch on Friday. Ship's been tighted up a bit since then.
The advice is obvious anyway. You can't work for your startup if you don't have money, and you won't have the money without a day job or a mentally deficient venture capitalist. The day job is easier and more honest.
Slashdot Mirror
If consumers truly didn't care about how things are run at a company, then companies would stop trying to hide their dirty laundry.
There are indeed too many people quick to try and cite Darwinism without actually knowing what Darwinism is. Probably a lot of "we support science!" types also who get it wrong.
I had a Sharp calculator in high school, avoiding the whole HP vs TI gang wars. I liked it very much. Kept me going in high school, college, work, and was even in use in grad school after that. Doesn't work now, but it's the early generation LCD display that is busted.
Companies do this at times, usually because it helps out the short term finances. Especially if the company is on the decline but the name still has value. Getting that short term cash can help the company stabilize. Sometimes after a lot of growth the company may not be able to manage it all and wants to push out a side line with its name to an outsourcer.
Anticipate failure and design around it.
I have been amazed at home many stupid ideas actually succeed, and succeed over their smarter competition. And have sort of gotten used to the idea that smart concepts die out. One dumb idea in the bowl full of brilliance can ruin it all.
That doesn't mean being smart of stupid doesn't matter. Being smart makes the random successes succeed even better, and being dumb lessens the success or shortens the lifetime of it.
Really, I've seen no good input keyboard on a smart phone. Maybe with extensive training but I'd rather use a real keyboard. I spend more time correcting the spelling from the stupid spell checkers, then fixing the same spelling a second time because the spell checker goes beyond stupid, and trying to position the cursor where it needs to be because there are no arrow keys for this, ugh. I can write things out faster on a palm pilot and with less training.
I'm not the only one with the problem, I can tell when email is sent from a phone because I have to do the translation of the resulting spell check into what was originally intended.
But it is a fundamentally stupid idea. There is no need for it. So what if some users want it, let them use a plug in or other tool if they insist on automatically executing code received over the network.
You forgot the part about going to school and getting an advanced degree. If you want someone to actually hire you for a job that normally insists on an advanced degree. Of course, if someone actually manages building some AI stuff on their own and writes a paper about it and gets it published, then maybe you can skip that part.
It is not thing you teach yourself while skipping the university though. Whenever I hear a question of "how can I get into this field", the usual answer is to get the degree first. For AI, this is even more true. AI is not a settled field where you can use technicians. AI is research, there will be no play book to follow, no software components to tie together with duck tape. For today's practical AI applications, there is no CS field that is optional, you will need math, high level languages, assembly programming, more math, hardware understanding, algorithm analysis, applied math, statistics and probability, databases, algorithms and data structures, and maybe a few electives in neurology.
Now it's not impossible to do it on your own. But employers and universities may not believe you and insist on seeing those diplomas. Having written a few papers with leading experts though may make the diploma optional.
Do I make this sound too daunting? It is daunting. It is a research oriented job.
Education is the answer. AI is not one of those learn at home jobs so you can get an IT help desk position for life. You need the university. And AI is very broad, it's not just a class or 2. You want a mix of EE and mathematics for the neural net and machine learning, classical AI background. And plenty of theory, never skip out on the theory, no one knows what skills are needed in the future for AI or where the trends go, and theory is necessary for that. Basically, it's a PhD job if you ever want to do more than just follow.
Lack of procedure is a major problem. People who want that may not really be experienced, or as much as they think they are... Lack of organization is a major flaw...
Yes, but with startups you can have brilliant people, rarely, but almost always there's little coordination as procedures haven't been set up yet. Plus a constant non-ending rush to meet short deadlines, with demos needing to be done often and no time to slow down and take stock of what's going on.
Welcome to startups. It's very good experience straight out of school to know just how screwed up startups are and to avoid them for the rest of the career.
Apple can afford this attitude, their bread and butter comes from fans who upgrade constantly for a premium price and they can make a good profit even if they flip their finger at the customers still running Leopard or iPhone 3. Other companies however make their bread and butter from the commodity markets, Microsoft does not want to give up the OEM market even though this is a much more difficult customer base to support in the long term; and with lots of companies already moving towards non-Windows platforms for production and R&D it would be risky for Microsoft to piss off the enterprise market as well (although it seems they are trying this risk more often these days).
I have 64 bit OSX, with VMware running 32-bit Windows. It works better than the 64-bit windows in VMware, though nowhere near as fast and spiffy as 32-bit Linux in VMware.
He may have some points but they're not good points. A 64-bit OS is not objectively better than a 32-bit OS.
There are 64-bit capable computers that just aren't powerful enough for modern bloatware and you will get better performance from the 32-bit system. Remember the big mistake of the "Ready for Vista" computers that couldn't run Vista.
Apple has some computers that are nice to use, but overall they're about high end fashionable consumer devices with high margins. They can afford to piss off a fraction of their market that doesn't update hardware yearly and still make a good profit. Other companies though need as many customers as they can get and aren't as quick to insult them.
There are enough consumer grade PCs still out there that can't run a 64-bit OS that they'd have had a premature migration to other systems if Windows 7 pr 8 had be 64-bit only. First rule of business is don't piss off your customers, and Microsoft on rare occasions actually remembers this rule.
Whining about how hard it is to support your customers should not be done in public, it's just bad business.
That's why he's a founder and not an actual engineer.
MRI is a bit of a stretch, they're not going to run basic Windows if they're smart - although most do have some front end that's a PC/Windows box because managers and executives aren't necessarily smart. But they can be PCs that still ahve 32-bit CPUs. Why not? If it's not broken then don't fix it!
There are some expensive medical equipment makers that do go and stockpile parts so that they can still be used beyond the part's end-of-life. If you use commodity parts in a mission critical system then that's what you need to do. If you want longer and higher quality support then you dump Windows and get Linux.
Look, 32-bit CPUs work! We also have 16 and 8 bit CPUs still in wide use. Founders of cloud startups shouldn't worry about this, they're only selling their product to consumer technophiles anyway.
At a previous building I noticed very quickly that the parking lot on friday had many many more free spaces when I'd arrive than normal (I'd show up 10-ish). In summers it felt practically deserted at times, even if there was an urgent deadline. Got so bad they stopped serving lunch on Friday. Ship's been tighted up a bit since then.
The advice is obvious anyway. You can't work for your startup if you don't have money, and you won't have the money without a day job or a mentally deficient venture capitalist. The day job is easier and more honest.
Did she pinky swear?