If I remember correctly, Gates pulled a few very cunning, and I'd say very opportunistic moves during his initial forays into the world of business. I'd even go so far as to suggest that this way of doing business has pervaded Microsoft's corporate culture, thus explaining its ongoing lack of ethical behavior. Gates (or his corporate cronies) practically lied under oath during the trial. What does that say about his character?
And that man worked hard to get where he is; and deserves an ounce of your respect for that. There are two sides to a coin; and the very fact that he gives back in areas that many others do not or would not donate time or money towards is laudable.
First, the only people that are worthy of my respect are those who can aspire to a Gates-like position in an ethical and honest manner. This would tend to explain why I have no respect for Gates. Second, I don't believe that Gates isn't deriving any benefit from the money he's giving way. This topic has come up before, and can be summed up in two words: tax writeoff. Face it- he has an agenda, and it's very much in his favor.
You are right that is a huge undertaking to fix this since this would require reengineering a lot of applications and operating systems. That was the whole point of mpt's article. Existing programs are a cumulation of decades of fundamental design errors. Many severe usability issues can be traced to these design errors from the seventies and eighties. Many programmers are unaware of this and have actually duplicated the errors in efforts to improve usability. Their workarounds are symptoms of rather than solutions for the problems.
I don't think some of his proposed ideas are really solutions so much as alternate means of implementations. Take his thoughts on file saving, for example. As someone who spends time on and off working on larger files, I fully appreciate the flexibility I have now to save a file on MY terms- when I want, how often, and whether or not it will be saved as a new, incremental version of the original. Saving a large file in Painter or Photoshop takes time. I can't see any way in hell that an automated save will not become a huge source of annoyance. I sometimes start work on an image, and decide that I don't want to keep the changes that I've made. That should be my decision.
Personally, I think time would be much better spent on providing systems with transparent backup (give the electronic data a form of persistence closer to that of hard copy) so that recovering from a hard disk failure isn't such a traumatic experience - or even something that people need to worry about.
Hehe...how true. I get the impression that people I've worked with don't understand how I can be as transparent as I am with my emotions and such. It's no secret when I don't like dealing with someone - while I don't purposely or maliciously engage in verbal attacks, my body language says far more. If I'm not looking you in the eye when I'm speaking to you, there's a problem. It's not that I have a problem with eye contact, it's that I have a problem pretending I like or trust someone when I really don't.
...consumers wise up and cast off their "I've got to have this yesterday" mentality. If they opt instead to keep buying and whining, they'll be getting exactly what they deserve.
(though there's plenty there to work with), but I just hope that if worse comes to worst, they find Painter a good home. I'd sure hate to see that proggie's untimely demise.
Re:The losers who downloaded it...
on
Doom 3 Alpha Leaked
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· Score: 1, Redundant
... are every bit as much to blame. Sheesh...can't people freaking wait until it's released? Is it really THAT important that they warez an alpha version of the game? Get a grip, people. If you really appreciate a good game, show some respect already.
Hmmmm...Qwest lists a number of DSL "partners" in nt area, and they're all smaller ISPs, often with even higher prices than the bigger guys. Earthlink isn't mentioned. The sad part is that no matter which point of access I choose (non-cable), Qwest will be involved at some point.
I thought all you had to do was contact your primary carrier and tell them to remove MCI as your long distance service. Of course, one might ask why I've neglected to do this. Answer: I don't know.
I noticed the other day when I looked at my phone bill, that MCI(Worldcomm) was so gracious to raise the minimum account billing to $10.00 per month, up 50% from the previous $5 per month. Funny thing is, I've NEVER made a long distance call using MCI as a carrier. What a load.
...smaller companies they can easily push around. I thought about a DSL account, but Qwest, surprise, surprise, is 'incompatible' with Earthlink (at least last time I checked). I swear...it's no wonder that such a small percentage of users have broadband access- pick what you hate dealing with most: too expensive, too invasive, or too much of a hassle. It's all there.
Granted, I can't see that my knowledge of Cage's work is complete, but I eventually grew to like an artist that's somewhere in between some of Cage's work, and something that's easier to deal with- the father of minimalism himself, Steve Reich. Interestingly, some of Reich's music is anything BUT minimalist.
I haven't listened to it yet, but this effort reminds me of the time I spent in college (as a comp major) listening to Cage and some of the other more, um, differently-thinking composers. I remember one piece we heard in class, entitled "36 Variations on a Door and Sigh." Granted, this isn't mathetmatical, but it's every bit as um, abstract...yeah, that's it...abstract.
Who gets paid to produce messes like these, and how much?
Can you imagine what it would look like if the same methodology were applied to coding? Maybe it is...and if so, it's no wonder bad things happen (bugs, project failures, etc).
I'd still prefer a text-based site with meaningful information, than one with a bunch of useless eye candy that impedes access to something meaningful.
Well, it's a tax issue if you agree that it's the government's job to pay for healtcare.
1. It doesn't encourage personal accountability in form of healthy lifestyle choices. If I never smoke, drink, or do drugs, and concentrate on positive activities instead - eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, etc. - I still pay for everyone who doesn't.
2. Healthcare is a captive market. People have a natural tendency to avoid having to check out early, thus making it very easy for any commercial interest to take advantage of the situation- and they do. This is why the US gov has been known to pay three times the market rate for the same item to a healthcare provider under one plan, than it does under another. This is also why an insurance company can raise its rates 17% in just one year without blinking an eye, why pharmaceutical companies can rape their customers and get paid to do it, and why this whole mess will really get ugly once all the gene patenting nonsense starts to take hold.
What does all this mean? Who knows? It wouldn't bother me to see a healthcare meltdown, akin to the dot-com bust. Things are way out of control, and it's quite possible that anything short of a massive realignment won't have much of an effect, as there are just too many entrenched interests.
Slashdot Mirror
If I remember correctly, Gates pulled a few very cunning, and I'd say very opportunistic moves during his initial forays into the world of business. I'd even go so far as to suggest that this way of doing business has pervaded Microsoft's corporate culture, thus explaining its ongoing lack of ethical behavior. Gates (or his corporate cronies) practically lied under oath during the trial. What does that say about his character?
And that man worked hard to get where he is; and deserves an ounce of your respect for that. There are two sides to a coin; and the very fact that he gives back in areas that many others do not or would not donate time or money towards is laudable.
First, the only people that are worthy of my respect are those who can aspire to a Gates-like position in an ethical and honest manner. This would tend to explain why I have no respect for Gates. Second, I don't believe that Gates isn't deriving any benefit from the money he's giving way. This topic has come up before, and can be summed up in two words: tax writeoff. Face it- he has an agenda, and it's very much in his favor.
You are right that is a huge undertaking to fix this since this would require reengineering a lot of applications and operating systems. That was the whole point of mpt's article. Existing programs are a cumulation of decades of fundamental design errors. Many severe usability issues can be traced to these design errors from the seventies and eighties. Many programmers are unaware of this and have actually duplicated the errors in efforts to improve usability. Their workarounds are symptoms of rather than solutions for the problems.
I don't think some of his proposed ideas are really solutions so much as alternate means of implementations. Take his thoughts on file saving, for example. As someone who spends time on and off working on larger files, I fully appreciate the flexibility I have now to save a file on MY terms- when I want, how often, and whether or not it will be saved as a new, incremental version of the original. Saving a large file in Painter or Photoshop takes time. I can't see any way in hell that an automated save will not become a huge source of annoyance. I sometimes start work on an image, and decide that I don't want to keep the changes that I've made. That should be my decision.
Personally, I think time would be much better spent on providing systems with transparent backup (give the electronic data a form of persistence closer to that of hard copy) so that recovering from a hard disk failure isn't such a traumatic experience - or even something that people need to worry about.
Oops...I should have said, "If they opt instead to keep buying, whining and/or stealing, they'll be getting exactly what they deserve."
Hehe...how true. I get the impression that people I've worked with don't understand how I can be as transparent as I am with my emotions and such. It's no secret when I don't like dealing with someone - while I don't purposely or maliciously engage in verbal attacks, my body language says far more. If I'm not looking you in the eye when I'm speaking to you, there's a problem. It's not that I have a problem with eye contact, it's that I have a problem pretending I like or trust someone when I really don't.
(though there's plenty there to work with), but I just hope that if worse comes to worst, they find Painter a good home. I'd sure hate to see that proggie's untimely demise.
It could be a combination of physical factors, along with the added pressures of working for a complete dufus of a boss.
If they were charged, will they get a refund?
What's the difference between MS's pricing, and the endlessly and upwardly-spiraling cost of a college education?
Hmmmm...Qwest lists a number of DSL "partners" in nt area, and they're all smaller ISPs, often with even higher prices than the bigger guys. Earthlink isn't mentioned. The sad part is that no matter which point of access I choose (non-cable), Qwest will be involved at some point.
I thought all you had to do was contact your primary carrier and tell them to remove MCI as your long distance service. Of course, one might ask why I've neglected to do this. Answer: I don't know.
Oh do I feel stupid. : )
I noticed the other day when I looked at my phone bill, that MCI(Worldcomm) was so gracious to raise the minimum account billing to $10.00 per month, up 50% from the previous $5 per month. Funny thing is, I've NEVER made a long distance call using MCI as a carrier. What a load.
Do I have to relicense?
...smaller companies they can easily push around. I thought about a DSL account, but Qwest, surprise, surprise, is 'incompatible' with Earthlink (at least last time I checked). I swear...it's no wonder that such a small percentage of users have broadband access- pick what you hate dealing with most: too expensive, too invasive, or too much of a hassle. It's all there.
Granted, I can't see that my knowledge of Cage's work is complete, but I eventually grew to like an artist that's somewhere in between some of Cage's work, and something that's easier to deal with- the father of minimalism himself, Steve Reich. Interestingly, some of Reich's music is anything BUT minimalist.
I haven't listened to it yet, but this effort reminds me of the time I spent in college (as a comp major) listening to Cage and some of the other more, um, differently-thinking composers. I remember one piece we heard in class, entitled "36 Variations on a Door and Sigh." Granted, this isn't mathetmatical, but it's every bit as um, abstract...yeah, that's it...abstract.
Heh...don't think this didn't cross my mind...
Who gets paid to produce messes like these, and how much?
Can you imagine what it would look like if the same methodology were applied to coding? Maybe it is...and if so, it's no wonder bad things happen (bugs, project failures, etc).
I'd still prefer a text-based site with meaningful information, than one with a bunch of useless eye candy that impedes access to something meaningful.
It appears this is intended to catch people clever enough to cheat
Sincc when is cheating considered clever? When I think of cheaters, *I* think loser.
Well, it's a tax issue if you agree that it's the government's job to pay for healtcare.
1. It doesn't encourage personal accountability in form of healthy lifestyle choices. If I never smoke, drink, or do drugs, and concentrate on positive activities instead - eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, etc. - I still pay for everyone who doesn't.
2. Healthcare is a captive market. People have a natural tendency to avoid having to check out early, thus making it very easy for any commercial interest to take advantage of the situation- and they do. This is why the US gov has been known to pay three times the market rate for the same item to a healthcare provider under one plan, than it does under another. This is also why an insurance company can raise its rates 17% in just one year without blinking an eye, why pharmaceutical companies can rape their customers and get paid to do it, and why this whole mess will really get ugly once all the gene patenting nonsense starts to take hold.
What does all this mean? Who knows? It wouldn't bother me to see a healthcare meltdown, akin to the dot-com bust. Things are way out of control, and it's quite possible that anything short of a massive realignment won't have much of an effect, as there are just too many entrenched interests.
More true to life, how about "Lucky" and "green palladium"?