* Usually company directors don't see this kind of sense, and are only interested in a signed SLA. Even if, as you say, the 'support' is basically somebody reading from a script in a call centre.
* Whilst most developers are decent this way, there are many who won't reply because it's their hobby and they can't be bothered, or will tell you to RTFBWM (where BW is Badly Written) etc. If you donate to them you might get a better response, but again you're up against the director who signs off the purchase order saying "Hang on.... you want us to voluntarily part with money?" etc.
I agree with what you're saying in that it's logical and sensible - but the discussion from the main article through to the parent post was basically starting to suggest that official support is required in a business setting and that if he can't get official support then he should switch to an open source alternative. It's this which I find illogical, as with a few Red Hat style exceptions, there *isn't* any "official support" (i.e. paid SLA level that business types like to have) so he'd be no better off:)
And how many OSS apps have "official support" exactly?
Some projects may be backed by the likes of Redhat, who will let you pay for "support" (basically a piece of paper to keep the company's suits happy), but for most OSS out there you're relying on community forums and wikis like everyone else.
Some brilliant advice here, but an awful lot of it is "I'm interviewing the employer too"
You should always have a certain amount of that attitude to appear confident, but what if you cross the line of arrogance and not appear as attractive to the employer?
That all depends on one thing: your current situation. If you're unemployed, you don't turn your nose up at anything - you get in there, bend over like a good little employee, and get a salary coming in. *Then* and only then do you have bargaining power such as experience and the general attractiveness of not sitting doing nothing, and can afford to say no and stay where you are.
The situation isn't as black&white as 'unemployed' or 'employed' either - you have things like dead end jobs and potential redundancy to consider.
None of it is black and white, so I don't think there are the formulaic answers that some are coming up with.
Yeah, had that in the back of my mind - but it depends on the company. Ours is one of those that insists on a company logo on anything produced (yes even internal), in the correct position, specific to/from/subject/etc tabular layout... I agree in principle though.
Really I think the place for memos is email - but tell that to a busy director who never reads anything unless it's printed out and thrust in front of his face:)
I've had a reasonable go at learning LaTeX myself, and can do a fair bit with the help of LyX, which at least makes writing a document feel a little less like programming. It's brilliant for documentation - with LyX it's actually easier than Word. Word is a bit clunky with writing multi-section documents with cross-references and keeping everything up to date - it especially has the habit of randomly deciding to turn a section header into a paragraph and vice versa of its own accord (to the user's point of view anyway).
The thing is, you probably wouldn't ride a supersonic jet down the road to work:) For a quick letter or memo or something, it's overkill, I'd just use Word or something lighter than that. Probably Openoffice, as the license fee for Word is also overkill if you just want to type a few letters.
Where LaTeX/LyX falls down is refined control over output formatting. Actually, to say that it falls down is wrong - it's not even the tool for the job. It's like saying a spoon falls down as an implement for eating spaghetti. LaTeX is designed for letting people forget about formatting and do the best job it can based on your structure/markup. Exact layouts can be done with effort, but a lot of it, compared to a more visual system like Word (or better, some sort of page layout app). For something like a CV, where presentation matters almost as much as content (a fact of life, even if we disagree with it) it's too much work.
Always use the correct tool for the job, and certainly add LaTeX to your repertoire, even if you "cheat" and use LyX:)
Graphics and prettiness are a Good Thing - BUT, should not be the first priority. Function (websites) or Gameplay (games) should be the cake, and then you apply the icing afterwards - if you have the resources, and if it doesn't spoil the cake.
Pardon the double layered metaphors. Mmm double layered.
IMO, a theory is not news. Especially with something like this, which just screams out "pics plz!". A Youtube video of it being thrown over the object or something would at least be an attempt to back it up, even though it's easily faked.
If you do segment your universe then please, please adjust it accordingly when it quietens down again.
In Everquest they did both. And they made the world so bloody HUGE (with a capital HUGE) that no matter how many server merges they do, it feels utterly empty. Half the problem of course is that they neglected the older 'segments' and left them to rot, despite actually being fairly important to the universe they've created.
Server merges are easy enough, but what do you do when your universe is too big? Close bits of it and anger players who had quests there?
Better still, a separate report issued yesterday by Ofcom revealed that the majority of broadband users had no idea about the speed of their connection anyway.
Furthermore, the majority don't care. Ask most of the non-geeks I know what speed their internet connection runs at, and the answer will be "Who knows, I don't care really, as long as I can get the internets on my computer thing I'm happy".
Heck I still know a lot of people who use dial-up, as it achieves their only goal (getting on the internet) for no monthly cost. They don't even begin to think about broadband until a goal such as "watch TV online" gets added to the equation.
As long as there is this level of apathy, there will be very little progress.
.. Recovery Team. In a statement, leader of the Fossett Recovery Crew said "Doctor McCoy was alive and well after the shuttle accident, and said that maybe scattering your atoms across space isn't such a bad idea after all".
.... how the website part of this stands if you have an open wireless router.
I strongly suspect whoever is in charge of the connection will be held under equal responsibility if people do illegal things on that connection, which would probably mean the end of public wifi.
How else are we going to locate and imprison all those paedophiles who are lurking on every street corner and every Bebo profile?
I'm being sarcastic, but that's how the logic of large numbers - possibly even the majority - of the British public works. Heck you only have to suggest personal privacy and someone is bound to pipe up with "well if you have nothing to hide then you have nothing to worry about? Or do you have something to hide, which means you must be looking at kiddie porn?"
If you dare to suggest that it's all going too far, you get an angry mob after you accusing you of being a "filthy Daily Mail reader" and such like.
That was seemingly everyone's first priority the moment Second Life came out. It wouldn't surprise me if the first ever public construction on there consisted of 2 spheres and a cylinder...
Can't see them getting as much trade if they don't:)
It'd be nice if they'd actually *do* something like this though, but I can't see it happening. This is kind of like standing in an Apple shop going "Mmmmm pretty. Shame I can't afford it."
Spend the Olympics money on it; we'll only make a complete and total Millennium Dome style "designed by clowns" cockup of that anyway.
The thing with opening up massive broadband though is that something will also have to be done about bandwidth costs for the sites that are being downloaded from.
Who said I hated Slashdot? I'm just agreeing that it's sensationalised, and that it's often guilty of that style of reporting. Who *originated* the sensationalism is irrelevant; what makes a paper or news site is which angle of a particular story they choose to publish. I don't really know Kotaku or Gizmodo, maybe they're similar.
However I'm more than capable of accepting news from the internet or tabloids with a pinch of salt and still enjoying reading them.
... because I for one am so relieved to see someone out there who actually "gets it" that I'm tempted to buy one of his games for that reason alone.
Why? Just to support his methods and to send a message to other developers (as well as the RIAA and co) that actually *trusting* your customers rather than treating them as suspected criminals until they prove otherwise, will actually attract more people into paying.
Yes there will always be hardcore pirates, and they will never buy anything whether it's easy or difficult to pirate it. But if more extra people buy the game (or perhaps more importantly, subsequent releases after they were happy with the first one they bought) because they didn't feel like some guy who had a security guard following him around a shopping centre muttering "yeah I'm just following this really dodgy looking guy who I suspect may steal something" into his radio - then it'll be worthwhile. Chances are there will be enough of these repeat customers who enjoyed the game and enjoyed not being treated like a potential thief, that it will outweigh the hardcore pirates.
I've bought more legitimate copies of Apple's Mac OS X by the way (no serial/activation/DRM, nothing) than Microsoft's Windows (which goes out of its way to try and prove you're a criminal). Make of that what you will, but I've been waiting and waiting for someone to remove DRM and find that their stuff got pirated *less*.
Admittedly, I could just be supporting a very good marketing ploy. I'd never heard of the developer or any of the games - what better way to get yourself known than to stir up something like this. But let's put it this way - if he's willing to trust that his customers aren't pirates, then I'm willing to trust that it's not just some clever slashvertising. Good idea this whole "trusting people" concept isn't it:)
That's Slashdot for you. It's almost exactly like a British Newspaper - I think it'd most likely be a tabloid, perhaps the Mirror...
OT: Even if he was "banned" (by contract) from talking about his hobbies so that Nintendo can own his brain, isn't that just Japanese employment culture? I remember reading about it once, how you basically devote yourself and your heart and soul to the company. (Maybe this is why you often see "someone put his heart and soul into this" style quality from their technology)
I don't normally agree with the "fashion over performance at all costs" stereotype, as a Mac owner myself, but Apple really lived up to it with that one. I can't see why anyone would want a Macbook Air, for any reason other than fashion / showing off.
Slashdot Mirror
I completely agree - BUT:
* Usually company directors don't see this kind of sense, and are only interested in a signed SLA. Even if, as you say, the 'support' is basically somebody reading from a script in a call centre.
* Whilst most developers are decent this way, there are many who won't reply because it's their hobby and they can't be bothered, or will tell you to RTFBWM (where BW is Badly Written) etc. If you donate to them you might get a better response, but again you're up against the director who signs off the purchase order saying "Hang on.... you want us to voluntarily part with money?" etc.
I agree with what you're saying in that it's logical and sensible - but the discussion from the main article through to the parent post was basically starting to suggest that official support is required in a business setting and that if he can't get official support then he should switch to an open source alternative. It's this which I find illogical, as with a few Red Hat style exceptions, there *isn't* any "official support" (i.e. paid SLA level that business types like to have) so he'd be no better off :)
And how many OSS apps have "official support" exactly?
Some projects may be backed by the likes of Redhat, who will let you pay for "support" (basically a piece of paper to keep the company's suits happy), but for most OSS out there you're relying on community forums and wikis like everyone else.
You won't find any life there (certainly not intelligent, and probably nothing that qualifies at all)
Some brilliant advice here, but an awful lot of it is "I'm interviewing the employer too"
You should always have a certain amount of that attitude to appear confident, but what if you cross the line of arrogance and not appear as attractive to the employer?
That all depends on one thing: your current situation. If you're unemployed, you don't turn your nose up at anything - you get in there, bend over like a good little employee, and get a salary coming in. *Then* and only then do you have bargaining power such as experience and the general attractiveness of not sitting doing nothing, and can afford to say no and stay where you are.
The situation isn't as black&white as 'unemployed' or 'employed' either - you have things like dead end jobs and potential redundancy to consider.
None of it is black and white, so I don't think there are the formulaic answers that some are coming up with.
Yeah, had that in the back of my mind - but it depends on the company. Ours is one of those that insists on a company logo on anything produced (yes even internal), in the correct position, specific to/from/subject/etc tabular layout... I agree in principle though.
Really I think the place for memos is email - but tell that to a busy director who never reads anything unless it's printed out and thrust in front of his face :)
I've had a reasonable go at learning LaTeX myself, and can do a fair bit with the help of LyX, which at least makes writing a document feel a little less like programming. It's brilliant for documentation - with LyX it's actually easier than Word. Word is a bit clunky with writing multi-section documents with cross-references and keeping everything up to date - it especially has the habit of randomly deciding to turn a section header into a paragraph and vice versa of its own accord (to the user's point of view anyway).
The thing is, you probably wouldn't ride a supersonic jet down the road to work :) For a quick letter or memo or something, it's overkill, I'd just use Word or something lighter than that. Probably Openoffice, as the license fee for Word is also overkill if you just want to type a few letters.
Where LaTeX/LyX falls down is refined control over output formatting. Actually, to say that it falls down is wrong - it's not even the tool for the job. It's like saying a spoon falls down as an implement for eating spaghetti. LaTeX is designed for letting people forget about formatting and do the best job it can based on your structure/markup. Exact layouts can be done with effort, but a lot of it, compared to a more visual system like Word (or better, some sort of page layout app). For something like a CV, where presentation matters almost as much as content (a fact of life, even if we disagree with it) it's too much work.
Always use the correct tool for the job, and certainly add LaTeX to your repertoire, even if you "cheat" and use LyX :)
It just won't be right without Wakka as Bender :)
... are still advertising it for £44.99.
It's very possible that they're just being retarded and will later say "sorry, you were too late, order cancelled" but it's worth a go.
Graphics and prettiness are a Good Thing - BUT, should not be the first priority. Function (websites) or Gameplay (games) should be the cake, and then you apply the icing afterwards - if you have the resources, and if it doesn't spoil the cake.
Pardon the double layered metaphors. Mmm double layered.
IMO, a theory is not news. Especially with something like this, which just screams out "pics plz!". A Youtube video of it being thrown over the object or something would at least be an attempt to back it up, even though it's easily faked.
.... irrelevant, now that you lot have gone and Slashdotted it :P
Wondered why I couldn't get a word in edgeways without seeing the over-capacity whale.
If you do segment your universe then please, please adjust it accordingly when it quietens down again.
In Everquest they did both. And they made the world so bloody HUGE (with a capital HUGE) that no matter how many server merges they do, it feels utterly empty. Half the problem of course is that they neglected the older 'segments' and left them to rot, despite actually being fairly important to the universe they've created.
Server merges are easy enough, but what do you do when your universe is too big? Close bits of it and anger players who had quests there?
Furthermore, the majority don't care. Ask most of the non-geeks I know what speed their internet connection runs at, and the answer will be "Who knows, I don't care really, as long as I can get the internets on my computer thing I'm happy".
Heck I still know a lot of people who use dial-up, as it achieves their only goal (getting on the internet) for no monthly cost. They don't even begin to think about broadband until a goal such as "watch TV online" gets added to the equation.
As long as there is this level of apathy, there will be very little progress.
.. Recovery Team. In a statement, leader of the Fossett Recovery Crew said "Doctor McCoy was alive and well after the shuttle accident, and said that maybe scattering your atoms across space isn't such a bad idea after all".
.... how the website part of this stands if you have an open wireless router.
I strongly suspect whoever is in charge of the connection will be held under equal responsibility if people do illegal things on that connection, which would probably mean the end of public wifi.
Could be wrong, just throwing thoughts around.
How'd you fall this far, Britain?
Fear.
Mostly driven by the media (newspapers/tabloids).
How else are we going to locate and imprison all those paedophiles who are lurking on every street corner and every Bebo profile?
I'm being sarcastic, but that's how the logic of large numbers - possibly even the majority - of the British public works. Heck you only have to suggest personal privacy and someone is bound to pipe up with "well if you have nothing to hide then you have nothing to worry about? Or do you have something to hide, which means you must be looking at kiddie porn?"
If you dare to suggest that it's all going too far, you get an angry mob after you accusing you of being a "filthy Daily Mail reader" and such like.
Porn and virtual sex?
That was seemingly everyone's first priority the moment Second Life came out. It wouldn't surprise me if the first ever public construction on there consisted of 2 spheres and a cylinder...
Can't see them getting as much trade if they don't :)
It'd be nice if they'd actually *do* something like this though, but I can't see it happening. This is kind of like standing in an Apple shop going "Mmmmm pretty. Shame I can't afford it."
Spend the Olympics money on it; we'll only make a complete and total Millennium Dome style "designed by clowns" cockup of that anyway.
The thing with opening up massive broadband though is that something will also have to be done about bandwidth costs for the sites that are being downloaded from.
Just give it to Goatse. I hear he's good at resizing rings :)
She could always keep it on a necklace or something though, if her finger got too big.
I was just wondering this. I look forward to hearing about a "Neutrino Flux Emitter" outside of Star Trek / Elite.
She's already taken. Don't steel.
Who said I hated Slashdot? I'm just agreeing that it's sensationalised, and that it's often guilty of that style of reporting. Who *originated* the sensationalism is irrelevant; what makes a paper or news site is which angle of a particular story they choose to publish. I don't really know Kotaku or Gizmodo, maybe they're similar.
However I'm more than capable of accepting news from the internet or tabloids with a pinch of salt and still enjoying reading them.
... because I for one am so relieved to see someone out there who actually "gets it" that I'm tempted to buy one of his games for that reason alone.
Why? Just to support his methods and to send a message to other developers (as well as the RIAA and co) that actually *trusting* your customers rather than treating them as suspected criminals until they prove otherwise, will actually attract more people into paying.
Yes there will always be hardcore pirates, and they will never buy anything whether it's easy or difficult to pirate it. But if more extra people buy the game (or perhaps more importantly, subsequent releases after they were happy with the first one they bought) because they didn't feel like some guy who had a security guard following him around a shopping centre muttering "yeah I'm just following this really dodgy looking guy who I suspect may steal something" into his radio - then it'll be worthwhile. Chances are there will be enough of these repeat customers who enjoyed the game and enjoyed not being treated like a potential thief, that it will outweigh the hardcore pirates.
I've bought more legitimate copies of Apple's Mac OS X by the way (no serial/activation/DRM, nothing) than Microsoft's Windows (which goes out of its way to try and prove you're a criminal). Make of that what you will, but I've been waiting and waiting for someone to remove DRM and find that their stuff got pirated *less*.
Admittedly, I could just be supporting a very good marketing ploy. I'd never heard of the developer or any of the games - what better way to get yourself known than to stir up something like this. But let's put it this way - if he's willing to trust that his customers aren't pirates, then I'm willing to trust that it's not just some clever slashvertising. Good idea this whole "trusting people" concept isn't it :)
That's Slashdot for you. It's almost exactly like a British Newspaper - I think it'd most likely be a tabloid, perhaps the Mirror...
OT: Even if he was "banned" (by contract) from talking about his hobbies so that Nintendo can own his brain, isn't that just Japanese employment culture? I remember reading about it once, how you basically devote yourself and your heart and soul to the company. (Maybe this is why you often see "someone put his heart and soul into this" style quality from their technology)
Cheapy *and* better specced.
I don't normally agree with the "fashion over performance at all costs" stereotype, as a Mac owner myself, but Apple really lived up to it with that one. I can't see why anyone would want a Macbook Air, for any reason other than fashion / showing off.