The user interface is a fundamental part of the the design. If you haven't finished the design of the app when you've released a beta then there's something seriously fucked up somewhere. Tweaking is OK, but major UI changes?? No.
IE7 hasn't hit beta yet.
In any case, if the UI of your app is detemining it's design then your design process is flawed. The design of an application should be determined by it's use cases. This is true both for UI design and feature design.
If the UI determines the features or the other way around your design is flawed. A proper design allows for an UI which is independent from the application featureset.
There is no single True Way to arrive at a given result. With a proper design methology you can finish your UI first or your core featureset first, it doesn't matter. (I'm not claiming which is more effective.)
You assume that if a beta product has a flawed UI it will always end up with a flawed UI in the finished product. While this may be the typical scenario this need not be the case.
I do write software, professionally, and it's that type of thinking that leads to some of the horrible interfaces we see in OSS. It may be PHYSICALLY easy to move a button on a screen but arranging the buttons so that a novice can deduce their function is very difficult.
This point is very often missed on developers. OSS zealots are the worst for this; "if they can't figure it out, they're too stupid to use it". Congratulations, you've lost 90% of the market.
My point was that the interface of a product in a alpha/beta stage is not a major issue. You're assumption that I am clueless in regards to interface design is flawed. I do know a great deal about user interface design, but I do not believe that you can deduce that IE7 is a rubbish based on the user interface in an alpha stage.
I agree that the User Interface is critical in a finished product. But that is not true of an alpha version.
Minor interface issues like where to place buttons by default (which can probably be customized anyway) is the least of your problems when developing a browser. The big issues are things that you can't see without examining the code, like how the rendering engine decides which layout algorithm to use depending on the CSS display and float properties. Etc. etc. etc.
In short: You're reacting like you are saying a house is crap because it's ugly, at the stage the walls haven't even been painted yet.
This is a Good Thing. Not because everyone has to use Firefox instead of IE/Opera/Safari/whatever, but because this forces authors to create more standard compliant sites which work on multiple platforms.
According to the Inquirer AMD plans to integrate PCI Express as well. This would be very nice indeed, but I guess it's not exactly press release grade information at this point.
I see this as a better option than shooting rubber bullets at people or using teargas, but there is one serious problem:
What happens if someone gets trapped in the beam, knocked unconscious for example, and is exposed for a long time? If this device can cause serious burns it probably would be a sure death, as your whole body gets exposed. If burned badly enough (third degree) skin will pretty much drop off...
The real question is, can we trust the weapon operators to use this responsibly?
Didn't think of that... Then again, in Finland we haven't really done checks in the last 15 years. I'd say roughly 99% of all transactions are done completely electronically, save from the fact that (most) bills still are in paper form and you have to type in the info (or use a barcode reader) prior to payment.
I have a username and password which logs into my bank account. If it were compromised whoever has the password can see my transactions, that's it.
In order to actually do stuff the bank (and all Finnish bank sites I know of) use a challenge/response system: I have a card which has a bunch of randon number passwords on it, around a 100, in number: password -pairs. The site asks for "password number X" (one number per session) and I give it. These passwords are unique to my own account, and the card has no identification, so if my wallet gets stolen it's useless without knowing which bank and account it's for, as well as the username and password for logging in.
If I were fooled by a phishing site they'd get one of the hundred passwords required for a transaction, and the bank would notice pretty quick if they tried logging in and out for hours trying to get the correct challenge assigned to the session.
We all know that downloading music supports the terrorists.
On a more serious note, when will the TV and movie industry finally get it? I'm still stuck with downloading Stargate Atlantis over P2P as it doesn't air here (in Finland) at all... Give me the option to pay (a reasonable sum) for Pete's sake!
So where was your sense of moral outrage when the city of Fallujah was cordoned off and razed to the ground, civilians and all?
I was against the war in Iraq from the start. Refer to my blog archive, see the entry for the 20th of March 2003. Im against all wars, for that matter.
I suppose I should have listed all things I consider wrong in order to please you?
I have to say I agree, there's really no better way to put it.
What I personally will never, ever get around is how someone can become so sick that they believe they are doing the Right Thing when participating in terror acts such as this. Things like this always have me wondering if humanity will end up distroying itself sooner rather than later. Yet I hope that world peace can some day be a reality. Without hope there's not much left, is there?
Cholesterol, for example, is necessary for the body to function.
Please don't go around saying such broad, unqualified statements.
I didn't claim that you have to consume cholesterol, nor did I claim that you shouldn't. I was illustrating the fact that things are relative. If all cholesterol is somehow magically removed from your body you die. Period.
Yes there are two primary kinds of cholesterol, but that was irrelevant. I was merely using something generally considered "bad" to illustrate the point that things are relative.
I am also fully aware I repeated myself in this comment. But things are relative, you know;)
Try watching Castle in the Sky and then while you're sitting there, amazed, at how it is such a shameless ripoff of Atlantis, note that it was made several years earlier.
Note to self: watch "Castle in the Sky". But I fail to see how this should prevent me from enjoying Atlantis. After all, most stories are still just rehashes of earlier stories... I can still enjoy a rip-off if it's a good rip-off;)
Funny, but a higher wattage PSU will usually use less energy for a given rig, due to the fact that they are ofter more efficient than lesser rated PSUs. A 500W PSU doesn't mean your computer will consume more power than when equipped with a 400W PSU.
Nokia is it seems releasing a Linux based device. When they do that the GPL is quite clear about the patents and that you *have* to give usage. So in fact the GPL says _more_ than Nokia do.
Patents and copyright are different beasts. You can write a piece of code which violates someone else's patent regardless of the copyright and license involved.
Note that existing contactless technology is sufficient for this credit card, with a maximum range of up to 10cm. Such technology is supposedly already in use in Europe. (Europeans care to share your experiences?)
I don't know about credit cards, but my Travel card for commuting uses some kind of induction tech.
It's in use in the Helsinki region, with at least half a million of users (probably more). Given that the card is 70 euros a month I would guess cracking whatever encryption it uses is quite hard, I've never heard of a sigle case of anyone being able to load travel time or value illicitly. The cards also work very reliably, including below the freezing point.
The working radius, as noted in another comment, is something like 10cm.
Slashdot Mirror
The user interface is a fundamental part of the the design. If you haven't finished the design of the app when you've released a beta then there's something seriously fucked up somewhere. Tweaking is OK, but major UI changes?? No.
IE7 hasn't hit beta yet.
In any case, if the UI of your app is detemining it's design then your design process is flawed. The design of an application should be determined by it's use cases. This is true both for UI design and feature design.
If the UI determines the features or the other way around your design is flawed. A proper design allows for an UI which is independent from the application featureset.
There is no single True Way to arrive at a given result. With a proper design methology you can finish your UI first or your core featureset first, it doesn't matter. (I'm not claiming which is more effective.)
You assume that if a beta product has a flawed UI it will always end up with a flawed UI in the finished product. While this may be the typical scenario this need not be the case.
I do write software, professionally, and it's that type of thinking that leads to some of the horrible interfaces we see in OSS. It may be PHYSICALLY easy to move a button on a screen but arranging the buttons so that a novice can deduce their function is very difficult.
This point is very often missed on developers. OSS zealots are the worst for this; "if they can't figure it out, they're too stupid to use it". Congratulations, you've lost 90% of the market.
My point was that the interface of a product in a alpha/beta stage is not a major issue. You're assumption that I am clueless in regards to interface design is flawed. I do know a great deal about user interface design, but I do not believe that you can deduce that IE7 is a rubbish based on the user interface in an alpha stage.
I agree that the User Interface is critical in a finished product. But that is not true of an alpha version.
Let me guess: you don't write software?
Minor interface issues like where to place buttons by default (which can probably be customized anyway) is the least of your problems when developing a browser. The big issues are things that you can't see without examining the code, like how the rendering engine decides which layout algorithm to use depending on the CSS display and float properties. Etc. etc. etc.
In short: You're reacting like you are saying a house is crap because it's ugly, at the stage the walls haven't even been painted yet.
This is a Good Thing. Not because everyone has to use Firefox instead of IE/Opera/Safari/whatever, but because this forces authors to create more standard compliant sites which work on multiple platforms.
Good stuff.
The perfect way to prove BSD is more secure than Linux: no ethernet.
I'll go RTFA now...
These companies are providing what is essentially a public service, Internet access. They should not interfere with the content/data itself. Period.
According to the Inquirer AMD plans to integrate PCI Express as well. This would be very nice indeed, but I guess it's not exactly press release grade information at this point.
I see this as a better option than shooting rubber bullets at people or using teargas, but there is one serious problem:
What happens if someone gets trapped in the beam, knocked unconscious for example, and is exposed for a long time? If this device can cause serious burns it probably would be a sure death, as your whole body gets exposed. If burned badly enough (third degree) skin will pretty much drop off...
The real question is, can we trust the weapon operators to use this responsibly?
Didn't think of that... Then again, in Finland we haven't really done checks in the last 15 years. I'd say roughly 99% of all transactions are done completely electronically, save from the fact that (most) bills still are in paper form and you have to type in the info (or use a barcode reader) prior to payment.
I have a username and password which logs into my bank account. If it were compromised whoever has the password can see my transactions, that's it.
In order to actually do stuff the bank (and all Finnish bank sites I know of) use a challenge/response system: I have a card which has a bunch of randon number passwords on it, around a 100, in number: password -pairs. The site asks for "password number X" (one number per session) and I give it. These passwords are unique to my own account, and the card has no identification, so if my wallet gets stolen it's useless without knowing which bank and account it's for, as well as the username and password for logging in.
If I were fooled by a phishing site they'd get one of the hundred passwords required for a transaction, and the bank would notice pretty quick if they tried logging in and out for hours trying to get the correct challenge assigned to the session.
Simple, yet very effective.
We all know that downloading music supports the terrorists.
On a more serious note, when will the TV and movie industry finally get it? I'm still stuck with downloading Stargate Atlantis over P2P as it doesn't air here (in Finland) at all... Give me the option to pay (a reasonable sum) for Pete's sake!
Reflective displays aren't that suitable for TV, it's much simpler to have a TV which doesn't need a spotlight shining on it to work.
Electronic paper has been a subject of research for more than a decade. Reflective displays are much better for reading than emitting displays.
Despite all efforts we're still waiting for the real products, at least ones we could use at home.
This is a good idea, providing they come up with a system which can take part-time and amateur artists into account.
Currently (at least in Finland) marginal artists get next to nothing. Revamping the system would provide an opportunity to rectify this issue.
So where was your sense of moral outrage when the city of Fallujah was cordoned off and razed to the ground, civilians and all?
I was against the war in Iraq from the start. Refer to my blog archive, see the entry for the 20th of March 2003. Im against all wars, for that matter.
I suppose I should have listed all things I consider wrong in order to please you?
I think I can speak for everyone when i say
FUCK THE TERRORISTS
I have to say I agree, there's really no better way to put it.
What I personally will never, ever get around is how someone can become so sick that they believe they are doing the Right Thing when participating in terror acts such as this. Things like this always have me wondering if humanity will end up distroying itself sooner rather than later. Yet I hope that world peace can some day be a reality. Without hope there's not much left, is there?
Cholesterol, for example, is necessary for the body to function.
;)
Please don't go around saying such broad, unqualified statements.
I didn't claim that you have to consume cholesterol, nor did I claim that you shouldn't. I was illustrating the fact that things are relative. If all cholesterol is somehow magically removed from your body you die. Period.
Yes there are two primary kinds of cholesterol, but that was irrelevant. I was merely using something generally considered "bad" to illustrate the point that things are relative.
I am also fully aware I repeated myself in this comment. But things are relative, you know
You assume that all people naturally can withstand 15 minutes. I burn after 5, and I live in Michigan.
All normal people can withstand 15 minutes. If you burn after five you're hypersensitive to the sun, and probably aware that you are.
I'm lactose intolerant, and I know that even though milk is good for you it's not good for me. (Fortunately there's lactose-free milk nowadays.)
Now, the proper way to comment on something like this:
I burn after 5 minutes in the sun, YOU INSENSITIVE CLOD!
No sun -> little vitamin D production = bad.
Some sun -> vitamin D production = good.
Ridiculous amounts of sun -> high risk for cancer = bad.
I didn't read the article, but most things are OK on modetate doses. Cholesterol, for example, is necessary for the body to function.
Too much of any one thing is seldom a good idea.
Try watching Castle in the Sky and then while you're sitting there, amazed, at how it is such a shameless ripoff of Atlantis, note that it was made several years earlier.
;)
Note to self: watch "Castle in the Sky". But I fail to see how this should prevent me from enjoying Atlantis. After all, most stories are still just rehashes of earlier stories... I can still enjoy a rip-off if it's a good rip-off
I liked (as in didn't hate and enjoyed watching) treasure planet and atlantis as well. Is there some fundamental reason why I shouldn't have?
"When viewing images, tab icons now display thumbnails of the displayed image."
;)
I bet someone's mom/wife suggested this feature...
Funny, but a higher wattage PSU will usually use less energy for a given rig, due to the fact that they are ofter more efficient than lesser rated PSUs. A 500W PSU doesn't mean your computer will consume more power than when equipped with a 400W PSU.
Nokia is it seems releasing a Linux based device. When they do that the GPL is quite clear about the patents and that you *have* to give usage. So in fact the GPL says _more_ than Nokia do.
Patents and copyright are different beasts. You can write a piece of code which violates someone else's patent regardless of the copyright and license involved.
Note that existing contactless technology is sufficient for this credit card, with a maximum range of up to 10cm. Such technology is supposedly already in use in Europe. (Europeans care to share your experiences?)
I don't know about credit cards, but my Travel card for commuting uses some kind of induction tech.
It's in use in the Helsinki region, with at least half a million of users (probably more). Given that the card is 70 euros a month I would guess cracking whatever encryption it uses is quite hard, I've never heard of a sigle case of anyone being able to load travel time or value illicitly. The cards also work very reliably, including below the freezing point.
The working radius, as noted in another comment, is something like 10cm.