It's easy to extrapolate present trends (often to their illogical conclusion). Harder to predict disruptive innovations that result in discontinuities.
I'd like to know how they extrapolated the existence of billions of planets based on possibly detecting sixteen. Seems like a bit of a leap. Of course, I hope they're right, as the fraction of stars with planets would increase and this is one of the parameters in the Drake equation.
I met a PhD mathematician at a conference who's job was to prove that a particular piece of software was 'correct'. The process was slow, manual, and very very expensive. However, for this particular application quality was more important than just about any other aspect of the development process. The application was software for a NASA deep space probe. I guess they figured it was cheaper than the cost of on-site tech support.
A whole book about this?!
on
Why Software Sucks
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
It really comes down to:
1) Features 2) Cost 3) Time to market 4) Quality
Choose any THREE of the above.
Most software vendors do not compete on quality, they compete on one or more of the other three aspects. In SOME markets (telecom, avionics, etc.) - quality is more important. Releases tend to come less often and tend to be more expensive. Want quality software? Be willing to wait longer and / or pay more for it.
Texas has no income tax. Consequently, many other taxes (property, sales, and misc - such as car registration) are higher. Still, the cost of living is much lower. When I lived in Austin, folks moving there from the coasts were amazed at the very low cost of housing.
BTW, my friends who still live in Austin, asked me to remind Slashdot readers that Austin is full. There's no room left there - so you shouldn't consider moving to Austin. Especially if you're from California.
For anyone who thinks the US is running out of space - I suggest the following exercise. Take a drive on I-10 westbound through western Texas. The road is arrow straight and goes for miles and miles through NOTHING. No towns, no buildings, no crossroads, nothing. Apart from portions of the east and west coast, the US is not very densely populated.
You might say 'Who would want to live out in the desert in the middle of nowhere?' I'd agree with you, but then again, the residents of Vegas might not.
Dance Dance Revolution - which has been remarkably popular. DDR has even (according to previous Slashdot articles) made it into secondary school phys. ed. programs.
Congress is actively dealing with this right now! You won't get fiber to your house, but you will get a larger series of tubes. And your representative will mail you your very own Internet.
DRM is an arms race that the defender is going to eventually lose. Microsoft realizes this and is using the legal system to try to intimidate their NEXT adversary in the DRM battle. If they can successfully make an example of the person who bypassed their DRM this time, the next person may think twice. And yeah - it stinks.
The camera is fairly specialized - it's a panoramic camera for commercial photographers. 160MP makes sense if you're going to do very large mural size prints. Think, giant travel scenery or product posters at trade shows or other commercial venues.
As far as I'm concerned, "The Guardian" in general, and Monbiot in particular don't have a whole lot of credibility. I REALLY do NOT like tobacco companies, but fail to see what they'd gain by doing something like this. If I read it in, say, "The Economist", then I'll give it more credence.
I started out using vi early in my career (on a PDP/11). These days I mostly use either Eclipse, Visual Studio, or NotePad++. However, when I either need to edit a very large file, or manipulate a large text file using regular expressions - vim and gvim are hard to beat. My thanks to the folks that have kept this useful tool alive and running on modern machines.
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I don't think anyone in the world would care one wit if China swallowed N. Korea whole.
I suspect South Korea would care.
Or maybe ONE system crashed 450,000 times. I hate when that happens.
Here's the USGS link.
So where is my flying car?
It's easy to extrapolate present trends (often to their illogical conclusion). Harder to predict disruptive innovations that result in discontinuities.
There will be a release candidate 3 Beta released as well. You'll just have to pay money for it in stores.
I'd like to know how they extrapolated the existence of billions of planets based on possibly detecting sixteen. Seems like a bit of a leap. Of course, I hope they're right, as the fraction of stars with planets would increase and this is one of the parameters in the Drake equation.
Yeah, but look at the benefits you get - a spiffy new CPU hogging GUI and tons of great new DRM!
She deserved it as much as them.
Nope, incompetence is not felony.
I met a PhD mathematician at a conference who's job was to prove that a particular piece of software was 'correct'. The process was slow, manual, and very very expensive. However, for this particular application quality was more important than just about any other aspect of the development process. The application was software for a NASA deep space probe. I guess they figured it was cheaper than the cost of on-site tech support.
It really comes down to:
1) Features
2) Cost
3) Time to market
4) Quality
Choose any THREE of the above.
Most software vendors do not compete on quality, they compete on one or more of the other three aspects. In SOME markets (telecom, avionics, etc.) - quality is more important. Releases tend to come less often and tend to be more expensive. Want quality software? Be willing to wait longer and / or pay more for it.
Is Sony trying to say that if I want to get a PS3 I need to buy a new stereo cabinet too?
No, it'll work just fine till all the liquid nitrogen evaporates.
Texas has no income tax. Consequently, many other taxes (property, sales, and misc - such as car registration) are higher. Still, the cost of living is much lower. When I lived in Austin, folks moving there from the coasts were amazed at the very low cost of housing. BTW, my friends who still live in Austin, asked me to remind Slashdot readers that Austin is full. There's no room left there - so you shouldn't consider moving to Austin. Especially if you're from California.
For anyone who thinks the US is running out of space - I suggest the following exercise. Take a drive on I-10 westbound through western Texas. The road is arrow straight and goes for miles and miles through NOTHING. No towns, no buildings, no crossroads, nothing. Apart from portions of the east and west coast, the US is not very densely populated. You might say 'Who would want to live out in the desert in the middle of nowhere?' I'd agree with you, but then again, the residents of Vegas might not.
In many ways, Shanghai is as modern and as good as New York, just as cheap as Ohio
I suppose the corollary is not true, as I don't see many IT jobs moving to Ohio. Of course (total) taxes here are a bit higher than 10%.
You'll know that space travel has really come of age when the boarding line contains twenty backpack wearing Aussies on walkabout.
PC - ... because it's DEAD
Uh oh! Prepare to be flamed by PC gaming zeolots with $900 video cards.
Dance Dance Revolution - which has been remarkably popular. DDR has even (according to previous Slashdot articles) made it into secondary school phys. ed. programs.
Congress is actively dealing with this right now! You won't get fiber to your house, but you will get a larger series of tubes. And your representative will mail you your very own Internet.
DRM is an arms race that the defender is going to eventually lose. Microsoft realizes this and is using the legal system to try to intimidate their NEXT adversary in the DRM battle. If they can successfully make an example of the person who bypassed their DRM this time, the next person may think twice. And yeah - it stinks.
Yogurt may not be smarter than me, but it has more culture.
Let's get rrrready to ... oh ... you have a PS/3 ... nevermind.
The camera is fairly specialized - it's a panoramic camera for commercial photographers. 160MP makes sense if you're going to do very large mural size prints. Think, giant travel scenery or product posters at trade shows or other commercial venues.
Yeah, but how'd that compare to students studying to become Ninja?
As far as I'm concerned, "The Guardian" in general, and Monbiot in particular don't have a whole lot of credibility. I REALLY do NOT like tobacco companies, but fail to see what they'd gain by doing something like this. If I read it in, say, "The Economist", then I'll give it more credence.
I started out using vi early in my career (on a PDP/11). These days I mostly use either Eclipse, Visual Studio, or NotePad++. However, when I either need to edit a very large file, or manipulate a large text file using regular expressions - vim and gvim are hard to beat. My thanks to the folks that have kept this useful tool alive and running on modern machines.