This is completely missing the point. First I rather doubt that the person is a US hater. Secondly, I think he is just pointing out the obvious.
For a science magazine I am actually quite surprised that they would post some sensationalistic like that. But then again SCIAM is not what it used to be.
And finally, if you can't come up with a better argument than "US-Haters" then stop posting! Much of the world doesn't hate the US. They just hate when people like yourself accuse us people who actually like the US as US haters...
I could imagine the same thing happening. Any race that is smart enough to travel here on their spaceship is probably smart enough to figure out that we actually have nothing of value.
And like you say, "hey we are a warlike race". I would add a race that all believes we have the one true religion and one true philosophy on how life was created, yada, yada...
The problem is that a dozen religions all seem to believe the same thing...
If I were the Vulcan race I would say, "oh wow, let's move on and see if they are still around in about 100,000 years." If so maybe then...
The issue here I see is that you are not challenging yourself anymore. You have gotten accustomed to your ideas, and that is ok.
What I miss in SciFi are the hard questions. I wanted to write a hard SciFi book about the issue of transporters based on cloning that malfunctioned. The issue of clones is clear enough, but what if it really happened?
I mean ask yourself. You cloned yourself, how do you map passports? Driver Licenses? Etc?
Our world is based on the concept that we are unique and we have single things. All databases, all programs are based on the premise that you can't be in two places at once. And that once you die, that's it, you are deleted from the database.
Now what if you could? How would the world react? And would our heavily computerized society be able to cope? I say no... What would be the ramifications of having cloned people?
The movie Island did talk a bit about it, but we need more depth into that.
This is why some people make money with shares and others loose money with shares...
Right now is THE TIME to buy shares. Gold? Oh yeah whatever. Notice how gold just can't get steam? Want to know why? Because people are producing like crazy, and central banks are selling.
If you think we are heading towards deflationary times then cash is the thing to hold. Deflation means cash is worth more, and thus T-Bills are the thing.
What people don't realize is that because there is a deleveraging going on there is less cash.
When you are leveraged you are creating money due to the velocity of money increasing. To put it in perspective. If have a 100 USD, and I lend 90 then that person with 90 can lend it out again, say 80. Thus at this time outstanding in the entire system are loans of 190 USD, even though there are only 100 USD's. This is leverage and velocity of money.
The past leverage ratio was about 40 to 1. That means for every 1 dollar that the government prints there are about 40 forty floating around. With deleveraging to say a normal 13 to 1, 27 dollars are being taken out of the system. CREDIT CRUNCH!!!!
So what does the Fed do? Print money. They are reflating the system, even though it is contracting and deflating...
Apache is a different situation. Apache has been around since the Internet and as such has fought the battles.
The problem with Linux and Open Office is that they have not been in broad use in the context of a desktop. And as such the traps related to the desktop have not been exposed.
Many of the worst problems are because people click on things that they should not be clicking on. Linux does not have that type of idiocy proof technology built in. Windows and Vista have that built in. It is also a reason why I hate Vista.
Here is a very simple example. If I want to open a port below 1024 I need admin rights. Well what about above? Nope don't need it. This was done in the days when anything below 1024 was considered important. Though now it has become irrelevant and as such could be a security threat.
I read the blog entry and could not believe the garbage.
Linux on the server side is fantastic, and it works very very well. However, on the desktop things are not so clean cut.
When I read:
>Open Office documents send and receive.doc and exel spread sheets just fine.
What a load of garbage! Open Office can send and receive those documents so long as they are not that complicated. And therein lies the issue. You are nervous to use OpenOffice because an translation error could hit you at the wrong moment.
>Why are you denying computer users simply because they choose to use a more secure operating system?
Be very very careful of what you write! If Linux on the desktop were to get the kind of attraction that Windows or more recently OSX does we would be seeing very different pictures.
Remember OSX, based UNIX, said that they had no virii. Ooops, not that OSX is becoming popular it seems that there are a few security loopholes. The same thing would happen to Linux since hackers are a determined lot.
Linux needs to stop the smug attitude because users don't care about smugness. They just want things to work!
I have completely given up on imdb.com reviews. In fact for movies I have given up completely on any review.
When I buy a movie I look at three things:
1) Trailer: It needs to look interesting. 2) Storyline: When you look at the DVD you can get an overall gist of the storyline and whether or not it is interesting. Usually storylines are rehashed, but then you think if you are interested in that. 3) Actors/Actresses/Directors: Who is involved in the movie. For example Adam Sandler in my book is a hit or miss. 50 first dates, Zohan were hits, Click a complete miss. But I know what I am getting and will review the trailer and storyline before getting.
Usually with these 3 attributes I can pick movies I like or that my wife likes. Considering that I am a DVD fan I would say only a half dozen movies have been a complete waste of time...
I used to write books, and I hated the fact that you lived and died by the sword of Amazon. And I knew that some authors were gaming their books with better ratings.
While I am not the worlds best writer, I do feel I ok and give my readers some useful information. I don't feel that my books are a waste of money.
Having said that it hurts when your book does really well, and then it is knocked back by the competition. I had a book that hit the top rated, and it was being ranked higher than one of the competition. The competition got some reviewers out and knocked my book back.
I stopped buying at Amazon since I can get cheaper books at a1books.
The Average American can go to India to get an education. They can even go to Russia, and they can live in India, or any other country. Apply for the permits and you can be living there.
The idea that these countries are not civilized is absolutely bogus! People get good healthcare in India. Not everybody gets it, but you can get it. In fact there is a tourist trade being established where you can take a vacation and get an operation.
Ahh, is the problem that you DONT want to move? Well that's your problem, not the problem of country in question....
In the UK I have been seeing how a 1984 situation is being established:
1) Speed cameras to the wahzoo.... 2) Camera's to watch people to the wahzoo... 3) Rights being taken away and people sent to jail on issues that would otherwise seem "ludicrous.."
It has been proven that the cameras do squat to stop crime. Yet there they are and more are coming. Why? It is an issue of the establishment in the UK wanting to control the people. 1984!
The result of Indymedia and the posters is a direct reaction of the restrictions. No more no less...
All that has to happen in the UK is that they start loosening up! Though I doubt that will happen, until a "revolution" occurs. You might think it is funny and cannot happen. I on the other hand say, sure it can happen, but we have gotten so used to "law and order" that we think it cannot happen.
Have you actually thought about WHY you are not getting hired? And fixing those issues?
My wife is a manager and I get to see the other side of things. They don't explicitly go out with the notion, "oh let's not hire X, but hire Y."
They are just thankful that they can get anybody with skills.
Right now there is a REALLY big problem, and a friend of mine says it best.
"Those that you want to hire are not hirable, but those that are hirable you don't want."
He said this because he noticed that there are many who calls themselves programmers, but are 2000 leftovers who got into it because you could make "lots and lots" of money. Hiring a programmer that you want to keep is these days very difficult.
Here is the deal. Microsoft is an exporter. This means for them to make money they need to have clients outside of the US.
Ideally they would like to stick to HQ in Redmond. But if immigration gets too nuts they will simply go elsewhere.
And what you forget, and this is the problem of America's immigration system, today's immigrant is tomorrow's citizen. I say America has an immigration problem because it gives no priority to skilled immigrants. Skilled immigrants can be in the US for a while, but no longer. That is wrong.
No the reason why we have captchas is because of the Internet economy.
In the good old days there would be a HUMAN looking to make sure things are still running smoothly. Sure we had other problems, but now we have the complete opposite. NO humans whatsoever since the Internet economy can't afford humans (after all every is free yes?)
I am not saying that we should go back to having to pay a fortune for things. What I am saying is that free this, that and the other thing are not good either.
Because at the end of the day you get what you pay for!
NOTE: Open source while free does not in my mind mean free as in free bear...
The header says Vista and Windows 7, but yet in the article:
It should come as no surprise that Windows 7 performs very much like its predecessor. In fact, during extensive multiprocess benchmark testing, Windows 7 essentially mirrored Vista in almost every scenario. Database tasks? Roughly 118 percent slower than XP on dual-core (Vista was 92 percent slower) and 19 percent slower than XP on quad-core (identical to Vista). Workflow? A respectable 38 percent slower than XP on dual-core (Vista was 98 percent slower) and 59 percent slower on quad-core (Vista was 66 percent slower).
I can buy the top secret nature of the device. That is a legitimate concern. I also agree that his safety is important.
But to not have a personal device because he is the "President" is pure crap! Since when did the "President" become royalty? So what that he is the leader of the USA, he is just another HUMAN...
And I am tempted to believe he thinks the same way.
The argument of the president having aides is exactly the problem of royalty and how their heads were cut off. When a human surrounds themselves with "aides" they surround themselves with "yes-men".
What I think Obama wants is to not loose contact to the people who got him into office in the first place. And THAT I find commendable.
I actually have a real problem with the need for "security" in a government where I elected them. The government is the people, and I want complete transparency. The government asks transparency of the financial community, and the car industry. Where is the transparency of the government?
I happen to like direct democracy because it keeps the politicians close to the people.
The real question is what do your users do? If you have plain vanilla users then shifting them to OO will be not that bad.
However, if there is any use of style sheets, macros or any other automation technique then you are going to have problems galore and not worth the effort.
The problem that you are going to be fighting is why upgrade?
Open Office is not Office 2007 comparable. Office 2007 is quite the package. Though that does not mean Open Office is not usable. It really depends. I write trading systems with Excel, and have looked multiple times into Calc. And each time I keep passing. Calc is not a great spreadsheet. It is actually quite lackluster.
I would even say that GNumeric is much better spreadsheet.
I agree here. I actually need 4 Gigs or RAM because I data mine. And I appreciate the ability to do this without problems. But then again I could have done that when 32 bits was introduced.
Though here is an example of how we have morphed into inefficiency...
How do most developers define an OHLC (Open High Low Close) bar?
As the anonymous coward said. We need to expect that today's hardware should be able to run faster than it does.
It is possible to write faster coder without adding overhead. The problem is that Windows does not do this.
here is a REALLY simple example. Notepad, Calculator, and the other apps that have been dragged around from Windows Version X. Notice how fast they are? They do what they should, and yet keep getting recompiled...
Why is that? Simple answer the products have had zero evolution because they did what they were supposed to.
In contrast they keep adding functionality to Windows that simply does not add value. It adds value because it is a feature.
This reminds me very much of the car industry in the 60's. They would add fins, and people would ask why. Answer because it was cooler, more streamline and better...
I use Windows XP, Vista, and now am testing Windows 7!
Windows 7 is not nicer. Windows 7 has all of the same problems as Vista. I write trading systems and as such see what Vista, and Windows 7 do.
1) Screen flash, due to the fact that HP has written a bad driver whenever the printer is not started will cause a loop 0 dialog box to appear. Result is that the OS requires a screen flash indicating a different mode. I have minimum 2 screens, usually 3 and 4 are not uncommon. Do you know what screen flash does to 4 screens and how long it takes?
2) Gotta have upgrades. Vista when it receives (Windows 7 as well) critical upgrades requires you to reboot. Well is that not f***n dandy. You boot your machine get your trading setup, and then Vista says, "Hey I have to reboot because you received a super critical update." The worst is that you can only delay it by 3 hours. That is great when you are in the middle of the trade and Windows decides its time to reboot. Also great if you are running a 4 day Montecarlo to wake up in the morning to see a "safe" machine!
3) WTF does Vista or Windows 7 have to search my harddisk? I have a terrabyte of data, and there is always something searching the harddisk for something. Oh yes the fabled "background" task. Did you know when traders run trading strategies they do nothing except stare at the screen. And guess what Windows thinks, "hey I can run this background task..."
4) The directory structure is still a freaken mess. I wish they would adopt an OSX approach where files don't have to be scattered everywhere.
And the list goes on...
Microsoft as I see has a major issue. They have some parts doing good jobs, Office, SharePoint, Exchange, etc. And then there is the Windows division that keeps producing garbage!
I wish, and I really do wish, that Microsoft did not fight the 1999 split up order.
Right now Microsoft is eating up 30% of their profits in "R&D", yet their growth is only 8%. That's called a pig!
>Is it as quick as running XP? Well, no, but don't forget that XP is a seven-year-old operating system that required a Pentium II at release.
You see I don't get this comment. Since the operating system 7 years ago had to run on much slower hardware, well, don't expect that now?
WHY F***G NOT! What on earth does an operating system have to do so that it sucks up ever bit of my quad core machine?
Here is the irony. Superfetch... Superfetch makes my programs faster to load and run. Well, are they counting the time that superfetch takes away while I work?
Oh yes, I remember, it runs in the background. Yes, that's right background if you count not moving your mouse or keyboard. BUT you see I write trading systems, and have traders, and they actually don't move their mouse or keyboard. Guess what thinks, it is ok to startup run, and cycle through a terrabyte of data? Yes anything that should run in the background!
I would actually like a faster operating system! I have a hate list of Vista, and not a single thing has changed in Windows 7! Windows 7 is literally putting lipstick on a pig!
Ah, but your sound of reason will fall on flat ears with the Slashdot crowd. After all what is more important than having technology [fill in blank] being accessible?
I was reading in OSNews an article that talked about accessibility and one poster said the following (paraphrasing)
Is it really that bad that only certain operating systems are followed? For if you try to be completely open you will annoy somebody. After all what is to say that somebody using Haiku or some other esoteric operating system?
The point is that you are going to annoy somebody... At least the Obama camp knows that there is an Internet! And that it is not made of tubes....
I am in the market and write trading systems, and could not have said it better myself.
The thing about Steve Jobs and these sorts of leaders is when to let go. Lou Gerstner brought back IBM from the dead. Then he let go. IBM is still alive and kicking.
Nokia's past CEO made Nokia what it was and then he let go. Nokia is still alive and kicking.
Microsoft is an example of how one half let's go and the other half does not. I am actually much more pessimistic with Microsoft than Apple.
In the past Apple lacked execution. They had great ideas, but poor execution. Now Apple has execution, and it is NOT STEVE JOBS that did the execution. Think about it, how well did Apple execute with Steve Jobs previously? Or how about Next? NOT AT ALL! What was different this time is that Steve Jobs built a team...
Ideas are a dime a dozen. The ability to execute on the idea is what makes the difference... And that Apple can do...
I was once promoted to manager. And for about 3 months I loved it. And then I didn't.
My wife who is an engineer like me is a VP/Director. She makes quite a bit more than I do. But guess what, I see the stress my wife has. Me I have stress, but not that type of stress.
You see with engineering I am in control. With management, you are herding cats!
Slashdot Mirror
This is completely missing the point. First I rather doubt that the person is a US hater. Secondly, I think he is just pointing out the obvious.
For a science magazine I am actually quite surprised that they would post some sensationalistic like that. But then again SCIAM is not what it used to be.
And finally, if you can't come up with a better argument than "US-Haters" then stop posting! Much of the world doesn't hate the US. They just hate when people like yourself accuse us people who actually like the US as US haters...
You know that is REALLY good thinking.
I could imagine the same thing happening. Any race that is smart enough to travel here on their spaceship is probably smart enough to figure out that we actually have nothing of value.
And like you say, "hey we are a warlike race". I would add a race that all believes we have the one true religion and one true philosophy on how life was created, yada, yada...
The problem is that a dozen religions all seem to believe the same thing...
If I were the Vulcan race I would say, "oh wow, let's move on and see if they are still around in about 100,000 years." If so maybe then...
The issue here I see is that you are not challenging yourself anymore. You have gotten accustomed to your ideas, and that is ok.
What I miss in SciFi are the hard questions. I wanted to write a hard SciFi book about the issue of transporters based on cloning that malfunctioned. The issue of clones is clear enough, but what if it really happened?
I mean ask yourself. You cloned yourself, how do you map passports? Driver Licenses? Etc?
Our world is based on the concept that we are unique and we have single things. All databases, all programs are based on the premise that you can't be in two places at once. And that once you die, that's it, you are deleted from the database.
Now what if you could? How would the world react? And would our heavily computerized society be able to cope? I say no... What would be the ramifications of having cloned people?
The movie Island did talk a bit about it, but we need more depth into that.
This is why some people make money with shares and others loose money with shares...
Right now is THE TIME to buy shares. Gold? Oh yeah whatever. Notice how gold just can't get steam? Want to know why? Because people are producing like crazy, and central banks are selling.
If you think we are heading towards deflationary times then cash is the thing to hold. Deflation means cash is worth more, and thus T-Bills are the thing.
What people don't realize is that because there is a deleveraging going on there is less cash.
When you are leveraged you are creating money due to the velocity of money increasing. To put it in perspective. If have a 100 USD, and I lend 90 then that person with 90 can lend it out again, say 80. Thus at this time outstanding in the entire system are loans of 190 USD, even though there are only 100 USD's. This is leverage and velocity of money.
The past leverage ratio was about 40 to 1. That means for every 1 dollar that the government prints there are about 40 forty floating around. With deleveraging to say a normal 13 to 1, 27 dollars are being taken out of the system. CREDIT CRUNCH!!!!
So what does the Fed do? Print money. They are reflating the system, even though it is contracting and deflating...
Apache is a different situation. Apache has been around since the Internet and as such has fought the battles.
The problem with Linux and Open Office is that they have not been in broad use in the context of a desktop. And as such the traps related to the desktop have not been exposed.
Many of the worst problems are because people click on things that they should not be clicking on. Linux does not have that type of idiocy proof technology built in. Windows and Vista have that built in. It is also a reason why I hate Vista.
Here is a very simple example. If I want to open a port below 1024 I need admin rights. Well what about above? Nope don't need it. This was done in the days when anything below 1024 was considered important. Though now it has become irrelevant and as such could be a security threat.
http://www.linuxquestions.org/linux/node/2179
From the article...
> I wonder why. Isn't it time to declare the port 1024 limit as obsolete too and remove it?
I read the blog entry and could not believe the garbage.
Linux on the server side is fantastic, and it works very very well. However, on the desktop things are not so clean cut.
When I read:
>Open Office documents send and receive .doc and exel spread sheets just fine.
What a load of garbage! Open Office can send and receive those documents so long as they are not that complicated. And therein lies the issue. You are nervous to use OpenOffice because an translation error could hit you at the wrong moment.
>Why are you denying computer users simply because they choose to use a more secure operating system?
Be very very careful of what you write! If Linux on the desktop were to get the kind of attraction that Windows or more recently OSX does we would be seeing very different pictures.
Remember OSX, based UNIX, said that they had no virii. Ooops, not that OSX is becoming popular it seems that there are a few security loopholes. The same thing would happen to Linux since hackers are a determined lot.
Linux needs to stop the smug attitude because users don't care about smugness. They just want things to work!
I have completely given up on imdb.com reviews. In fact for movies I have given up completely on any review.
When I buy a movie I look at three things:
1) Trailer: It needs to look interesting.
2) Storyline: When you look at the DVD you can get an overall gist of the storyline and whether or not it is interesting. Usually storylines are rehashed, but then you think if you are interested in that.
3) Actors/Actresses/Directors: Who is involved in the movie. For example Adam Sandler in my book is a hit or miss. 50 first dates, Zohan were hits, Click a complete miss. But I know what I am getting and will review the trailer and storyline before getting.
Usually with these 3 attributes I can pick movies I like or that my wife likes. Considering that I am a DVD fan I would say only a half dozen movies have been a complete waste of time...
I used to write books, and I hated the fact that you lived and died by the sword of Amazon. And I knew that some authors were gaming their books with better ratings.
While I am not the worlds best writer, I do feel I ok and give my readers some useful information. I don't feel that my books are a waste of money.
Having said that it hurts when your book does really well, and then it is knocked back by the competition. I had a book that hit the top rated, and it was being ranked higher than one of the competition. The competition got some reviewers out and knocked my book back.
I stopped buying at Amazon since I can get cheaper books at a1books.
The Average American can go to India to get an education. They can even go to Russia, and they can live in India, or any other country. Apply for the permits and you can be living there.
The idea that these countries are not civilized is absolutely bogus! People get good healthcare in India. Not everybody gets it, but you can get it. In fact there is a tourist trade being established where you can take a vacation and get an operation.
Ahh, is the problem that you DONT want to move? Well that's your problem, not the problem of country in question....
In the UK I have been seeing how a 1984 situation is being established:
1) Speed cameras to the wahzoo....
2) Camera's to watch people to the wahzoo...
3) Rights being taken away and people sent to jail on issues that would otherwise seem "ludicrous.."
It has been proven that the cameras do squat to stop crime. Yet there they are and more are coming. Why? It is an issue of the establishment in the UK wanting to control the people. 1984!
The result of Indymedia and the posters is a direct reaction of the restrictions. No more no less...
All that has to happen in the UK is that they start loosening up! Though I doubt that will happen, until a "revolution" occurs. You might think it is funny and cannot happen. I on the other hand say, sure it can happen, but we have gotten so used to "law and order" that we think it cannot happen.
Have you actually thought about WHY you are not getting hired? And fixing those issues?
My wife is a manager and I get to see the other side of things. They don't explicitly go out with the notion, "oh let's not hire X, but hire Y."
They are just thankful that they can get anybody with skills.
Right now there is a REALLY big problem, and a friend of mine says it best.
"Those that you want to hire are not hirable, but those that are hirable you don't want."
He said this because he noticed that there are many who calls themselves programmers, but are 2000 leftovers who got into it because you could make "lots and lots" of money. Hiring a programmer that you want to keep is these days very difficult.
You are wrong...
Social networks...
Here is the deal. Microsoft is an exporter. This means for them to make money they need to have clients outside of the US.
Ideally they would like to stick to HQ in Redmond. But if immigration gets too nuts they will simply go elsewhere.
And what you forget, and this is the problem of America's immigration system, today's immigrant is tomorrow's citizen. I say America has an immigration problem because it gives no priority to skilled immigrants. Skilled immigrants can be in the US for a while, but no longer. That is wrong.
No the reason why we have captchas is because of the Internet economy.
In the good old days there would be a HUMAN looking to make sure things are still running smoothly. Sure we had other problems, but now we have the complete opposite. NO humans whatsoever since the Internet economy can't afford humans (after all every is free yes?)
I am not saying that we should go back to having to pay a fortune for things. What I am saying is that free this, that and the other thing are not good either.
Because at the end of the day you get what you pay for!
NOTE: Open source while free does not in my mind mean free as in free bear...
Ok so who is faster XP, or Vista?
The header says Vista and Windows 7, but yet in the article:
It should come as no surprise that Windows 7 performs very much like its predecessor. In fact, during extensive multiprocess benchmark testing, Windows 7 essentially mirrored Vista in almost every scenario. Database tasks? Roughly 118 percent slower than XP on dual-core (Vista was 92 percent slower) and 19 percent slower than XP on quad-core (identical to Vista). Workflow? A respectable 38 percent slower than XP on dual-core (Vista was 98 percent slower) and 59 percent slower on quad-core (Vista was 66 percent slower).
http://www.infoworld.com/article/09/01/22/03TC-windows-multicore_4.html
So therefore Vista and Windows 7 suck in performance to XP?
I can buy the top secret nature of the device. That is a legitimate concern. I also agree that his safety is important.
But to not have a personal device because he is the "President" is pure crap! Since when did the "President" become royalty? So what that he is the leader of the USA, he is just another HUMAN...
And I am tempted to believe he thinks the same way.
The argument of the president having aides is exactly the problem of royalty and how their heads were cut off. When a human surrounds themselves with "aides" they surround themselves with "yes-men".
What I think Obama wants is to not loose contact to the people who got him into office in the first place. And THAT I find commendable.
I actually have a real problem with the need for "security" in a government where I elected them. The government is the people, and I want complete transparency. The government asks transparency of the financial community, and the car industry. Where is the transparency of the government?
I happen to like direct democracy because it keeps the politicians close to the people.
Wow, not a good answer...
The real question is what do your users do? If you have plain vanilla users then shifting them to OO will be not that bad.
However, if there is any use of style sheets, macros or any other automation technique then you are going to have problems galore and not worth the effort.
The problem that you are going to be fighting is why upgrade?
Open Office is not Office 2007 comparable. Office 2007 is quite the package. Though that does not mean Open Office is not usable. It really depends. I write trading systems with Excel, and have looked multiple times into Calc. And each time I keep passing. Calc is not a great spreadsheet. It is actually quite lackluster.
I would even say that GNumeric is much better spreadsheet.
I agree here. I actually need 4 Gigs or RAM because I data mine. And I appreciate the ability to do this without problems. But then again I could have done that when 32 bits was introduced.
Though here is an example of how we have morphed into inefficiency...
How do most developers define an OHLC (Open High Low Close) bar?
Like this
class OHLC {
double Open;
double High;
double Low;
double Close;
}
OHLC[] bars
Yet this is so inefficient it is not even funny. More efficient is the following
class Bars {
double[] Open;
double[] High;
double[] Low;
double[] Close;
}
Bars bars;
Many people would be cringing and saying this is not object oriented and hence bad for maintenance, etc, etc...
Really? Are you sure about that? We actually develop quite a bit in the name of "reliability", yet applications still crash and have problems...
As the anonymous coward said. We need to expect that today's hardware should be able to run faster than it does.
It is possible to write faster coder without adding overhead. The problem is that Windows does not do this.
here is a REALLY simple example. Notepad, Calculator, and the other apps that have been dragged around from Windows Version X. Notice how fast they are? They do what they should, and yet keep getting recompiled...
Why is that? Simple answer the products have had zero evolution because they did what they were supposed to.
In contrast they keep adding functionality to Windows that simply does not add value. It adds value because it is a feature.
This reminds me very much of the car industry in the 60's. They would add fins, and people would ask why. Answer because it was cooler, more streamline and better...
How many cars have fins today?
I use Windows XP, Vista, and now am testing Windows 7!
Windows 7 is not nicer. Windows 7 has all of the same problems as Vista. I write trading systems and as such see what Vista, and Windows 7 do.
1) Screen flash, due to the fact that HP has written a bad driver whenever the printer is not started will cause a loop 0 dialog box to appear. Result is that the OS requires a screen flash indicating a different mode. I have minimum 2 screens, usually 3 and 4 are not uncommon. Do you know what screen flash does to 4 screens and how long it takes?
2) Gotta have upgrades. Vista when it receives (Windows 7 as well) critical upgrades requires you to reboot. Well is that not f***n dandy. You boot your machine get your trading setup, and then Vista says, "Hey I have to reboot because you received a super critical update." The worst is that you can only delay it by 3 hours. That is great when you are in the middle of the trade and Windows decides its time to reboot. Also great if you are running a 4 day Montecarlo to wake up in the morning to see a "safe" machine!
3) WTF does Vista or Windows 7 have to search my harddisk? I have a terrabyte of data, and there is always something searching the harddisk for something. Oh yes the fabled "background" task. Did you know when traders run trading strategies they do nothing except stare at the screen. And guess what Windows thinks, "hey I can run this background task..."
4) The directory structure is still a freaken mess. I wish they would adopt an OSX approach where files don't have to be scattered everywhere.
And the list goes on...
Microsoft as I see has a major issue. They have some parts doing good jobs, Office, SharePoint, Exchange, etc. And then there is the Windows division that keeps producing garbage!
I wish, and I really do wish, that Microsoft did not fight the 1999 split up order.
Right now Microsoft is eating up 30% of their profits in "R&D", yet their growth is only 8%. That's called a pig!
>Is it as quick as running XP? Well, no, but don't forget that XP is a seven-year-old operating system that required a Pentium II at release.
You see I don't get this comment. Since the operating system 7 years ago had to run on much slower hardware, well, don't expect that now?
WHY F***G NOT! What on earth does an operating system have to do so that it sucks up ever bit of my quad core machine?
Here is the irony. Superfetch... Superfetch makes my programs faster to load and run. Well, are they counting the time that superfetch takes away while I work?
Oh yes, I remember, it runs in the background. Yes, that's right background if you count not moving your mouse or keyboard. BUT you see I write trading systems, and have traders, and they actually don't move their mouse or keyboard. Guess what thinks, it is ok to startup run, and cycle through a terrabyte of data? Yes anything that should run in the background!
I would actually like a faster operating system! I have a hate list of Vista, and not a single thing has changed in Windows 7! Windows 7 is literally putting lipstick on a pig!
Ever heard of MONO...
Ah, but your sound of reason will fall on flat ears with the Slashdot crowd. After all what is more important than having technology [fill in blank] being accessible?
I was reading in OSNews an article that talked about accessibility and one poster said the following (paraphrasing)
Is it really that bad that only certain operating systems are followed? For if you try to be completely open you will annoy somebody. After all what is to say that somebody using Haiku or some other esoteric operating system?
The point is that you are going to annoy somebody... At least the Obama camp knows that there is an Internet! And that it is not made of tubes....
I am in the market and write trading systems, and could not have said it better myself.
The thing about Steve Jobs and these sorts of leaders is when to let go. Lou Gerstner brought back IBM from the dead. Then he let go. IBM is still alive and kicking.
Nokia's past CEO made Nokia what it was and then he let go. Nokia is still alive and kicking.
Microsoft is an example of how one half let's go and the other half does not. I am actually much more pessimistic with Microsoft than Apple.
In the past Apple lacked execution. They had great ideas, but poor execution. Now Apple has execution, and it is NOT STEVE JOBS that did the execution. Think about it, how well did Apple execute with Steve Jobs previously? Or how about Next? NOT AT ALL! What was different this time is that Steve Jobs built a team...
Ideas are a dime a dozen. The ability to execute on the idea is what makes the difference... And that Apple can do...
I was once promoted to manager. And for about 3 months I loved it. And then I didn't.
My wife who is an engineer like me is a VP/Director. She makes quite a bit more than I do. But guess what, I see the stress my wife has. Me I have stress, but not that type of stress.
You see with engineering I am in control. With management, you are herding cats!