But considering that the whole point of this document format standardization effort is to be able to open any document in 20 or 30 years time, and if the old binary format documents will be converted using deprecated features, that just means that any software implementing the standard will have to support the deprecated features anyway... ... though Office is currently the only major implementation of OOXML, so the only reason Microsoft is deprecating the features instead of removing them is to save the developers time and the end-users the "hassle" of downloading and installing an update.
The idea behind them is that without the institutional knowledge that these people have, the company would die even quicker. Right, but... aren't the people with the "institutional knowledge" the same ones who are steering the company into the ground? As you point out, it is very difficult to sort the good executives from the parasites. Once they are in, though, you can't get rid of either type without losing money. If you keep the bad management, you are obviously going to keep losing money. If you fire them, they get a golden parachute and you still have to pay the replacement. If you have a management system where the executives control their own bonuses, you have a no-win situation... except for the executives.
The problem is that computers DO decay over time, or at least Windows systems do. Unless you reinstall Windows frequently (which, of course, the uneducated masses never do), most systems will grind to a halt in a few years from the accumulation of registry keys and can't-uninstall software, not to mention the 2-4 simultaneous "security" programs typical computers have installed. Viruses and spyware only help to put these computers out of their misery.
Unlike the device in this story, reinstalling Windows on an actual brick will not lead to increased capabilities. Don't you see? Installing Windows on anything will lead to decreased capabilities.
What's next? Will Microsoft try to bribe OpenOffice.org to make OOXML the new default file format? Will they attempt to make Microsoft Bob an ISO standard? Will they try to release a document specification that has four different definitions of a "percent"?
Wikipedia's typo-correction project recommends using Google when searching for common misspellings of words, because Wikipedia's built-in search is so terrible by comparison.
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So, researchers were repetitively studying repetitive studying?
Did you know that learning by repetition is being studied repetitively by researchers?
Recently, researchers have been repetitively studying how knowledge is acquired via repetition.
So, when do we get the inevitable joke about Linux being ported to the human brain?
The problem is that computers DO decay over time, or at least Windows systems do. Unless you reinstall Windows frequently (which, of course, the uneducated masses never do), most systems will grind to a halt in a few years from the accumulation of registry keys and can't-uninstall software, not to mention the 2-4 simultaneous "security" programs typical computers have installed. Viruses and spyware only help to put these computers out of their misery.
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
new int [100000];
do_browser();
}
Not if a company copyrighted the texture, or patented it, or made it a trade secret. Could they then sue you for using the clone tool?
What if the genetic equivalent of Microsoft tried to patent DNA? Anyone remember the guy who patented the wheel?
What's next? Will Microsoft try to bribe OpenOffice.org to make OOXML the new default file format? Will they attempt to make Microsoft Bob an ISO standard? Will they try to release a document specification that has four different definitions of a "percent"?
Oh, wait... they are already doing that last one.
Wikipedia's typo-correction project recommends using Google when searching for common misspellings of words, because Wikipedia's built-in search is so terrible by comparison.