My point still stands. MS paid Epic and was the official publisher of Gears. No one bought PC Gears because it came out a year later with no marketing or improvements. MS was for a while, trying to kill its own PC gaming lead in order to support XBOX sales. Want to play Gears? Want to play Halo? Get an XBOX. Otherwise stfu. The verdict: MS PC gaming strategy is run by a bunch of XBOX marketing choads.
Gaming is the only clear advantage that Windows still holds over OS X and Linux. That's why it's so surprising that MS has been trying so hard to kill its own PC gaming lead. What do they really expect to happen after that? I still love Windows gaming and I love XBOX, but for all other uses I will go for my Mac or Linux computers. How do I mean MS is trying to kill gaming on Windows? Easy. MS doesn't even release it's own games on Windows anymore! No recent Halo games on PC. What? No Gear of War 2 on PC. Why? Add to this lack of any serious innovation in Direct X besides prettier water in every release. Then MS allows themselves to be curb-stomped by Steam. IMO Windows Live always felt like more of a bug than a feature. It just crashed and annoyed more than it worked.I guess they are really giving up now. It's other companies that are really keeping PC gaming alive now. MS you really blew it you losers.
I think what is happening is that people are suddenly demanding Macs at work. They use them at home and can't stand using their PC at work any more. I live in Sweden. As I look around I see way more Macs than PCs. At my wife's company it's the same. Could it be that Mac has already won the enterprise in some countries? People I talk to refuse to use Windows because of domain controllers, active directory, painful software installation, cheap hardware in PCs, and poor performance in mission critical applications. Not many users given a choice would choose a PC over a Mac. Bottom line: it's prettier and it works better.
This is surprising news for me as I have been a SilverStripe developer for a couple years now at my primary job. In case anyone is wondering, SilverStripe is a wonderful little enterprise class CMS. Miles ahead in my opinion of the usual suspects in this area ( Drupal, Joomla, WordPress). The real story here is why a small BSD licensed CMS written on the LAMP stack wants to be certified by Microsoft! I guess they want the publicity. But seriously, If you are a php developer looking for a good Object Oriented CMS written is PHP5, you should really take a couple days and check it out. You might really like it. It's not perfect by any stretch, a tad over-engineered, but did I mention it's miles ahead of everything else which calls itself a php5 CMS? Miles.
Really? A score of 5 for a post recommending teaching teaching kids Basic and Pascal? How about teaching them something useful like PHP or JavasScript? Something they can actually use to make something cool. I see kids learning Basic and Pascal as a definite path to them doing something other than IT as a career.
This is a good point. The problem is that programming is like gardening. You can't expect a garden you plant one year to be as beautiful the next year without a little work. You need to weed, prune, replant, and fertilize it.
In programming we need to patch and refactor. It's all for the best really. The way to sell refactoring to a customer is to tell them that sooner or later, without it, they are heading for a meltdown. It's not because the program was bad when you wrote it, it's just that entropy is the way of the universe.
No application, especially a web app, can withstand time without maintenance.
Also no web programmer can survive on new projects alone. Eventually maintenance and upgrades come into the picture.
If your clients don't understand that, then you need new clients more than your current clients need you. And you can quote me on that. I've been building web apps for 12 years. None on the sites I built 12 years would still be relevant or working today without upgrades.
I think it comes down to... I know language x... so I will do everything I need to do in language x, even if there are better choices available. The mantra of software engineers used to be 'Right tool for the job'. I think it applies here.
I am an American web programmer living in Stockholm Sweden for over 3 years. I love it here. I speak only English at work. If you are competent in any major programming language it will be easy to get papers and a job here.
Your lack of work experience may be the only thing holding you back. Employers of course are practical and want real-world experience as well as a college degree. Get a job in the States for a year or so and then nothing will stop you from jumping the pond.
Windows has a well-deserved reputation of being slow Zand buggy. I'm surprised it took IBM so many years to realize that employees will be more productive on an OS that respects them.
I've had a Wii since day one. I see them in all the stores I got to in both Europe and the U.S. Who are these people that can't find one? My guess is its only the people who need to buy one between December 10th and 24th. Plan ahead a little people, fer chrissakes.
"I always tell them "until the fundamental security flaws of PHP and CMS in general are fixed, that crap is not getting put on a web server I am responsible for running."
Wow, I would so not hire you to run my web servers;) Neither would Yahoo, Flickr, Digg, or about 10 million other companies using php and/or CMS. How do you find work? Displaying static html pages for Amish people?
A slight disagreement there. Don't be so quick to slam Dreamweaver. Especially 8.
Eclipse is great if you write classes all day but if you design real world web sites Dreamweaver 8 is at least as good an option as Eclipse.
With Eclipse you get fewer code highlighting options, worse code search, no built in reference, no site synchronization tools, no ftp, no decent visual editor (still useful for those quick pages and/or finding and jumping to the the right code to edit in a template file), and since it's Java it just feels wrong compared to C programs. There are more things lacking as well which are useful for web developers and not just code heads. Dreamwevaer is still the champ for people who can afford it.
The main difference is: Eclipse is aimed primarlily for programmers... Dreamweaver is for web site developers. If you fall in the middle like me... you can use either one but for me it's mostly DW until Adobe manages to eff it up or people develop better plugins to Eclipse.
If you look and compare to other industries, I don't think age in itself could be a disadvantage, as long as you have many successful projects on your CV. On the other side of the coin, however, I think anyone with under 5 years experience is immediately suspect.
There is such a shortage of programmers right now (I have lived in Europe and USA) and most of the available ones are available for a reason. I know a 60 year old who is programming COBOL and earning very good money and happy. I know ASP/XHTML guys who have been unemployed for years. Until programs start writing themselves or there is a massive influx of competetent programmers to college you will be alright.
In my opinion, a Senior Developer role is more a skill related thing than an age related thing. Old people need to work too. You shouldn't worry too much, especially if you are well liked.
Thanks, Sticking With PHP
on
The Ruby Way
·
· Score: 2, Funny
I am sticking with PHP.
It's the language of the people.
Why?
- PHP has a million free downloadable apps (and 10 good ones). - PHP has thousands of built-in functions (15 of which I can consistently remember). - The syntax is great (compared to Perl). - Fixing other people's PHP code keeps me well paid (if not well laid).
What does Ruby have?
- Good syntax - Sound principles - A terrific vision
What has that ever gotten anyone except shot, hanged, or crucified?
Word. I have the same experience. I am an IT consultant and using any web based email besides gmail seems a little backward (at least that is my impression). Whenever I revisit my hotmail and yahoo addresses to see if anyone has sent me anything important I am lost in a sea of spam.
I have received 2 pieces of spam from gmail in the past couple of years. And Google really seems to understand usability. People should just copy them. Stuff like Google Search, Gmail, and others make me want to try some other of their services.
Interesting? Not. So where is your Ruby on Rails version of OSCommerce that made your life so great?
And what praytell ever stopped you from using the 'Search' function in your editor and finding the code you were looking for? It worked for 6,000 other people including me.
The only thing that's interesting is that ROR people seem to post negative things on every PHP post. Get a life.
For PHP programmers who want MVC see PRADO, Smarty, or PHPCake.
Okay troll, so where is your Ruby on Rails version of OSCommerce?
And what praytell ever stopped you from using the 'Search' function in your editor and find what your looking for in the OSCommerce code? It worked for 6,000 other people including me.
I like MVC as much as the next guy, but seriously, you ROR living and breating spambots need to get a life.
Slashdot Mirror
My point still stands. MS paid Epic and was the official publisher of Gears. No one bought PC Gears because it came out a year later with no marketing or improvements. MS was for a while, trying to kill its own PC gaming lead in order to support XBOX sales. Want to play Gears? Want to play Halo? Get an XBOX. Otherwise stfu. The verdict: MS PC gaming strategy is run by a bunch of XBOX marketing choads.
Gaming is the only clear advantage that Windows still holds over OS X and Linux. That's why it's so surprising that MS has been trying so hard to kill its own PC gaming lead. What do they really expect to happen after that? I still love Windows gaming and I love XBOX, but for all other uses I will go for my Mac or Linux computers. How do I mean MS is trying to kill gaming on Windows? Easy. MS doesn't even release it's own games on Windows anymore! No recent Halo games on PC. What? No Gear of War 2 on PC. Why? Add to this lack of any serious innovation in Direct X besides prettier water in every release. Then MS allows themselves to be curb-stomped by Steam. IMO Windows Live always felt like more of a bug than a feature. It just crashed and annoyed more than it worked.I guess they are really giving up now. It's other companies that are really keeping PC gaming alive now. MS you really blew it you losers.
I think what is happening is that people are suddenly demanding Macs at work. They use them at home and can't stand using their PC at work any more. I live in Sweden. As I look around I see way more Macs than PCs. At my wife's company it's the same. Could it be that Mac has already won the enterprise in some countries? People I talk to refuse to use Windows because of domain controllers, active directory, painful software installation, cheap hardware in PCs, and poor performance in mission critical applications. Not many users given a choice would choose a PC over a Mac. Bottom line: it's prettier and it works better.
This is surprising news for me as I have been a SilverStripe developer for a couple years now at my primary job. In case anyone is wondering, SilverStripe is a wonderful little enterprise class CMS. Miles ahead in my opinion of the usual suspects in this area ( Drupal, Joomla, WordPress). The real story here is why a small BSD licensed CMS written on the LAMP stack wants to be certified by Microsoft! I guess they want the publicity. But seriously, If you are a php developer looking for a good Object Oriented CMS written is PHP5, you should really take a couple days and check it out. You might really like it. It's not perfect by any stretch, a tad over-engineered, but did I mention it's miles ahead of everything else which calls itself a php5 CMS? Miles.
Really? A score of 5 for a post recommending teaching teaching kids Basic and Pascal? How about teaching them something useful like PHP or JavasScript? Something they can actually use to make something cool. I see kids learning Basic and Pascal as a definite path to them doing something other than IT as a career.
They should replace Ballmer with the guy who's running the Taliban in Afghanistan. I hear they're doing well lately.
This is a good point. The problem is that programming is like gardening. You can't expect a garden you plant one year to be as beautiful the next year without a little work. You need to weed, prune, replant, and fertilize it.
In programming we need to patch and refactor. It's all for the best really. The way to sell refactoring to a customer is to tell them that sooner or later, without it, they are heading for a meltdown. It's not because the program was bad when you wrote it, it's just that entropy is the way of the universe.
No application, especially a web app, can withstand time without maintenance.
Also no web programmer can survive on new projects alone. Eventually maintenance and upgrades come into the picture.
If your clients don't understand that, then you need new clients more than your current clients need you. And you can quote me on that. I've been building web apps for 12 years. None on the sites I built 12 years would still be relevant or working today without upgrades.
I think it comes down to... I know language x... so I will do everything I need to do in language x, even if there are better choices available. The mantra of software engineers used to be 'Right tool for the job'. I think it applies here.
Wow is all I can say to that comment.
I agree that English should be the language for IT.
But how do you expect students to learn it?
In case anyone is reading this article and interested, there is free elearning program I built at
http://www.english4it.com/
Just use Linux to get stuff done and buy an XBox to play games. Problem solved.
I am an American web programmer living in Stockholm Sweden for over 3 years. I love it here. I speak only English at work. If you are competent in any major programming language it will be easy to get papers and a job here.
Your lack of work experience may be the only thing holding you back. Employers of course are practical and want real-world experience as well as a college degree. Get a job in the States for a year or so and then nothing will stop you from jumping the pond.
Windows has a well-deserved reputation of being slow Zand buggy. I'm surprised it took IBM so many years to realize that employees will be more productive on an OS that respects them.
I've had a Wii since day one. I see them in all the stores I got to in both Europe and the U.S. Who are these people that can't find one? My guess is its only the people who need to buy one between December 10th and 24th. Plan ahead a little people, fer chrissakes.
"I always tell them "until the fundamental security flaws of PHP and CMS in general are fixed, that crap is not getting put on a web server I am responsible for running."
;) Neither would Yahoo, Flickr, Digg, or about 10 million other companies using php and/or CMS. How do you find work? Displaying static html pages for Amish people?
Wow, I would so not hire you to run my web servers
Joomla is not a framework... it's a CMS. Big difference there.
A slight disagreement there. Don't be so quick to slam Dreamweaver. Especially 8.
Eclipse is great if you write classes all day but if you design real world web sites Dreamweaver 8 is at least as good an option as Eclipse.
With Eclipse you get fewer code highlighting options, worse code search, no built in reference, no site synchronization tools, no ftp, no decent visual editor (still useful for those quick pages and/or finding and jumping to the the right code to edit in a template file), and since it's Java it just feels wrong compared to C programs. There are more things lacking as well which are useful for web developers and not just code heads. Dreamwevaer is still the champ for people who can afford it.
The main difference is: Eclipse is aimed primarlily for programmers... Dreamweaver is for web site developers. If you fall in the middle like me... you can use either one but for me it's mostly DW until Adobe manages to eff it up or people develop better plugins to Eclipse.
If you look and compare to other industries, I don't think age in itself could be a disadvantage, as long as you have many successful projects on your CV. On the other side of the coin, however, I think anyone with under 5 years experience is immediately suspect.
There is such a shortage of programmers right now (I have lived in Europe and USA) and most of the available ones are available for a reason. I know a 60 year old who is programming COBOL and earning very good money and happy. I know ASP/XHTML guys who have been unemployed for years. Until programs start writing themselves or there is a massive influx of competetent programmers to college you will be alright.
In my opinion, a Senior Developer role is more a skill related thing than an age related thing. Old people need to work too. You shouldn't worry too much, especially if you are well liked.
I am sticking with PHP.
It's the language of the people.
Why?
- PHP has a million free downloadable apps (and 10 good ones).
- PHP has thousands of built-in functions (15 of which I can consistently remember).
- The syntax is great (compared to Perl).
- Fixing other people's PHP code keeps me well paid (if not well laid).
What does Ruby have?
- Good syntax
- Sound principles
- A terrific vision
What has that ever gotten anyone except shot, hanged, or crucified?
Sorry it doesn't work like that. Garbage in, garbage out.
Word. I have the same experience. I am an IT consultant and using any web based email besides gmail seems a little backward (at least that is my impression). Whenever I revisit my hotmail and yahoo addresses to see if anyone has sent me anything important I am lost in a sea of spam.
I have received 2 pieces of spam from gmail in the past couple of years. And Google really seems to understand usability. People should just copy them. Stuff like Google Search, Gmail, and others make me want to try some other of their services.
I actually plan on migrating all my apps to SQL Server Express when they include all the functionality of the real version and then port it to Linux.
Interesting? Not. So where is your Ruby on Rails version of OSCommerce that made your life so great?
And what praytell ever stopped you from using the 'Search' function in your editor and finding the code you were looking for? It worked for 6,000 other people including me.
The only thing that's interesting is that ROR people seem to post negative things on every PHP post. Get a life.
For PHP programmers who want MVC see PRADO, Smarty, or PHPCake.
Okay troll, so where is your Ruby on Rails version of OSCommerce?
And what praytell ever stopped you from using the 'Search' function in your editor and find what your looking for in the OSCommerce code? It worked for 6,000 other people including me.
I like MVC as much as the next guy, but seriously, you ROR living and breating spambots need to get a life.
Yeah and avoid CyricZ for sensible comments.