Re:nice, but welcome back to the real world
on
Software Aesthetics
·
· Score: 1
> I need it to work, not look good.
Hear hear. Engineers with an over-developed
aesthetic sense are writing their code for other
engineers, not the end-user. Too many times
in my professional life have I seen inordinate
amounts of time wasted on issues which are
invisible to the end-user, because some overly-
aesthetically minded engineer couldn't sleep at
night.
It's a craft, not an art; and if you can't sleep
at night, try getting laid.
For many apps which are in a highly competitive market (and e-mail clients certainly qualify) there comes a time in the life cycle when new features start getting added simply to stay "competitive", and not necessarily because they are needed.
Consider the case of the inflated word processor.
Microsoft Word 4.0 was a fine product. But sometime between 4.0 and the present a huge amount of new functionality was added, and the memory footprint swelled up an order of magnitude.
Despite the huge memory footprint, I still use it for the same things I used the 4.0 version for.
I must say that even though I believe in the triumph of Free Enterprise over Communism, this is perhaps one area where a lack of competition in the marketplace would have been a good thing:
If Word Perfect and all those other word processors weren't around adding pesky new features, we might still have a decent version of MS Word which requires less than 3 megabytes of disk space.
When Email programs start adding "mood detectors" and file sharing systems, as Eudora is doing now,
I gotta say "Enough Already! Put a fork in it! It's done!"
Now, having said that, when are they going to add a keyboard short-cut for setting all the messages in a mailbox to "read"...
The Boston Computer Museum closed to the public July 1, 1999, and
judging from the admission hours (every alternate weekend) of the Bletchley Park Museum, home to the Colossus Rebuild Project, I suspect the demand for computer-historians isn't very high. Nonetheless, it's a fascinating field.
Perhaps you might want to consider pursuing Computer History as a passionate hobby while making the big bucks in boring old programming or engineering?
I'm not sure how easy it is to draw distinctions between what is "biological" and what is "mechanical" when describing an alien species.
Consider an alien species whose being is based on something fairly ethereal, say, electro-magnetic radiation, observing us, and our digital brethren. To the aliens, the two organisms (carbon and silicon) would be more similar to each other than to the aliens.
In addition, a "mechanical" species, after a few million years of evolution, may be indistinguishable to us from a "biological" one, in terms of the complexity of its systems.
You can have open source, you can have software patents, and you can have large companies. Pick two.
Consider the following example of what happens when the three are mixed together.
1) Macromedia comes out with a cool tool with a crappy user interface called Flash.
2) Macromedia does something pseudo-open source like and generously releases the SWF file format (and some sample code) to the world at large.
3) Although the specification isn't crystal clear, there's certainly enough information within it for Adobe to come out with an internally labelled "Flash killer" called Live Motion. Live Motion is essentially a Parasitic App. It exists on the good graces of Flash. The only reason it has for living is that it has a better user interface than Flash (which, as already noted, has a stinky interface).
4) The Parasite (Adobe) after laying its eggs in the brain of its host, then attempts to eat said brains via this very lawsuit, accusing Macromedia of the same Parasitic behavior which it itself has already commited.
The only difference, as I see it, is that Macromedia gave Adobe an open invitation to eat its brains and Adobe didn't.
Berlin (Reuters) Residents of Embassy Row were awakened 4:00 am Thursday morning by a series of loud explosions. Awakened sleepers who ventured outside discovered the source of the noise: an oversized set of pipes installed in front of the Dutch Embassy called the "Large Hot Pipe Organ," or LHPO. The Organ, which emits propane-fueled explosions was being installed for a Friday concert at the Dutch Embassy. However it was not scheduled to play until the following evening.
"The odd thing was," said Frederich Tunalu, a caretaker employed by the Embassy, "there was no one at the controls! The thing just started playing all by itself!"
Further investigation revealed that the machine was being controlled from a very tiny keyboard, played by an overweight mouse with ears growing out of its butt.
Yes, consider that S3 just announced they are partnering with Dolby to support the AAC format on the new Rio players. Dolby claims this format has higher audio quality and is 30% smaller than MP3...
PRINCETON, New Jersey (CNN) -- Administrators at Princeton University are at a loss to explain the organized theft of food and other supplies from a faculty cafeteria.
The thieves apparently entered the cafeteria late at night through a ceiling heating duct and lowered themselves to the floor using a stolen fishing rod. After disabling the security motion detector, they picked the combination lock on the cupboard and stole various food supplies, including American cheese singles, peanut butter crackers, and java-chip power bars.
"It's really strange," said cashier Fred Tunalu, "that heating duct is really, really small."
In a completely unrelated story, Pets.com has been suffering from an abnormal increase in fraudulent credit card transactions, resulting in (continued on page 42)
(Reuters) -- International Pyrotechnical Devices, based in Poughkeepsie NY, today announced the debut of the PFA or Personal Flame Accessory. It is a paper matchbook which holds one billion matches. "Our goal is one smoker - one matchbook," said company founder, Fred E. Tunalu. The PFA, which is about the size of an IBM System 360, will contain copious cover art which is precisely targetted at the consumer. "By formatting each matchbook at one specific person, we hope to deliver the ultimate in marketing to a narrowly defined demographic," he said. (continued on page 42)
To clarify: The illustrations are printed in a grainy black and white format that I want to call "halftone," but won't because my knowledge of the printing world is minimal. They have constrast problems and definitely suffer in comparison with the more expensive monochrome or color "plates" the publisher could have used. I'm sure it was an economic decision, although I'm curious why the Baum book (which includes a CD-ROM) didn't include color renderings on the CD-ROM.
In both cases, the illustration problems aren't deadly. I was able to construct Knudsen's most complicated robot, Minerva, without any major misunderstandings. Nonetheless, it would be nice if the respective authors' websites contained copies of the original color illustrations (perhaps the publishers wouldn't approve?).
Point 1) These kits are NOT meant for us, they are meant for kids.
I generally agree, even though a lot of adults are buying the RIS. It doesn't particularly bother me that Lego is targeting (teenage) kids and hasn't provided explicit support of Linux, for example. The user community has done an excellent job of filling in this particular hole and is much more adaptable and nimble than Lego can ever be at fulfilling their needs. I suspect Lego's turn around time is pretty slow - especially for something that required as much preparation as Mindstorms. Consider the long interval of time that elapsed between MIT's programmable brick (the precursor of Mindstorms) and the official introduction of Mindstorms istelf!
Point 2) Books are a good thing.
Aren't they though! In the review I didn't mean to imply that they weren't. Only that despite the fact that much of this material was available elsewhere, that I still found that the books sucked me in. I don't think I stated this clearly enough: The books are indeed a worthwhile investment!
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> I need it to work, not look good.
Hear hear. Engineers with an over-developed
aesthetic sense are writing their code for other
engineers, not the end-user. Too many times
in my professional life have I seen inordinate
amounts of time wasted on issues which are
invisible to the end-user, because some overly-
aesthetically minded engineer couldn't sleep at
night.
It's a craft, not an art; and if you can't sleep
at night, try getting laid.
Consider the case of the inflated word processor.
Microsoft Word 4.0 was a fine product. But sometime between 4.0 and the present a huge amount of new functionality was added, and the memory footprint swelled up an order of magnitude. Despite the huge memory footprint, I still use it for the same things I used the 4.0 version for.
I must say that even though I believe in the triumph of Free Enterprise over Communism, this is perhaps one area where a lack of competition in the marketplace would have been a good thing:
If Word Perfect and all those other word processors weren't around adding pesky new features, we might still have a decent version of MS Word which requires less than 3 megabytes of disk space.
When Email programs start adding "mood detectors" and file sharing systems, as Eudora is doing now, I gotta say "Enough Already! Put a fork in it! It's done!"
Now, having said that, when are they going to add a keyboard short-cut for setting all the messages in a mailbox to "read"...
Perhaps you might want to consider pursuing Computer History as a passionate hobby while making the big bucks in boring old programming or engineering?
Consider an alien species whose being is based on something fairly ethereal, say, electro-magnetic radiation, observing us, and our digital brethren. To the aliens, the two organisms (carbon and silicon) would be more similar to each other than to the aliens.
In addition, a "mechanical" species, after a few million years of evolution, may be indistinguishable to us from a "biological" one, in terms of the complexity of its systems.
Consider the following example of what happens when the three are mixed together.
1) Macromedia comes out with a cool tool with a crappy user interface called Flash.
2) Macromedia does something pseudo-open source like and generously releases the SWF file format (and some sample code) to the world at large.
3) Although the specification isn't crystal clear, there's certainly enough information within it for Adobe to come out with an internally labelled "Flash killer" called Live Motion. Live Motion is essentially a Parasitic App. It exists on the good graces of Flash. The only reason it has for living is that it has a better user interface than Flash (which, as already noted, has a stinky interface).
4) The Parasite (Adobe) after laying its eggs in the brain of its host, then attempts to eat said brains via this very lawsuit, accusing Macromedia of the same Parasitic behavior which it itself has already commited.
The only difference, as I see it, is that Macromedia gave Adobe an open invitation to eat its brains and Adobe didn't.
Residents of Embassy Row were awakened 4:00 am Thursday morning by a series of loud explosions. Awakened sleepers who ventured outside discovered the source of the noise: an oversized set of pipes installed in front of the Dutch Embassy called the "Large Hot Pipe Organ," or LHPO.
The Organ, which emits propane-fueled explosions was being installed for a Friday concert at the Dutch Embassy. However it was not scheduled to play until the following evening.
"The odd thing was," said Frederich Tunalu, a caretaker employed by the Embassy, "there was no one at the controls! The thing just started playing all by itself!"
Further investigation revealed that the machine was being controlled from a very tiny keyboard, played by an overweight mouse with ears growing out of its butt.
Oh great. Another name which will be useless with search engines which strip punctuation...
Sigh... I guess I should just be thankful they didn't call the language "A" or "I".
Yes, consider that S3 just announced they are partnering with Dolby to support the AAC format on the new Rio players. Dolby claims this format has higher audio quality and is 30% smaller than MP3...
Definitive proof there is a god: The discovery of caffeine molecules next to that interstellar sugar.
The thieves apparently entered the cafeteria late at night through a ceiling heating duct and lowered themselves to the floor using a stolen fishing rod. After disabling the security motion detector, they picked the combination lock on the cupboard and stole various food supplies, including American cheese singles, peanut butter crackers, and java-chip power bars.
"It's really strange," said cashier Fred Tunalu, "that heating duct is really, really small."
In a completely unrelated story, Pets.com has been suffering from an abnormal increase in fraudulent credit card transactions, resulting in (continued on page 42)
(Reuters) -- International Pyrotechnical Devices, based in Poughkeepsie NY, today announced the debut of the PFA or Personal Flame Accessory. It is a paper matchbook which holds one billion matches. "Our goal is one smoker - one matchbook," said company founder, Fred E. Tunalu. The PFA, which is about the size of an IBM System 360, will contain copious cover art which is precisely targetted at the consumer. "By formatting each matchbook at one specific person, we hope to deliver the ultimate in marketing to a narrowly defined demographic," he said. (continued on page 42)
Fukui-san? Yes, Ota? The Iron Chef Chinese has just added a dollop of caviar!
Lego subsidies.
In both cases, the illustration problems aren't deadly. I was able to construct Knudsen's most complicated robot, Minerva, without any major misunderstandings. Nonetheless, it would be nice if the respective authors' websites contained copies of the original color illustrations (perhaps the publishers wouldn't approve?).
I generally agree, even though a lot of adults are buying the RIS. It doesn't particularly bother me that Lego is targeting (teenage) kids and hasn't provided explicit support of Linux, for example. The user community has done an excellent job of filling in this particular hole and is much more adaptable and nimble than Lego can ever be at fulfilling their needs. I suspect Lego's turn around time is pretty slow - especially for something that required as much preparation as Mindstorms. Consider the long interval of time that elapsed between MIT's programmable brick (the precursor of Mindstorms) and the official introduction of Mindstorms istelf!
Point 2) Books are a good thing.
Aren't they though! In the review I didn't mean to imply that they weren't. Only that despite the fact that much of this material was available elsewhere, that I still found that the books sucked me in. I don't think I stated this clearly enough: The books are indeed a worthwhile investment!
The Internet Mapping Project
Peacock Maps (buy one for xmas!)
-- jbum