I used Google Docs heavily for a few years. Then one day, about two years ago, they disabled offline mode. Guess what happened to me a few weeks later? Yup, I was in some situation with no internet access and needed a document and couldn't get it. I dropped Docs like a hot rock and switched to Dropbox the next day. (Granted, they now have offline access once again, through the very nice Google Drive. But, you know, "screw me twice," and all that.)
OTOH, I use Maps all the time, and Translate and YouTube. I arrived on this page via Google Reader and am entering this comment via my Nexus 7. So clearly they know how to make (or acquire) some good products.
Final note: Google relentlessly a/b tests everything. They know exactly how many people are rejecting the GMail redesign, or how many uses they stand to lose by killing iGoogle. Sometimes I think these cold, rational decisions backfire, as they annoy a vocal minority or misinterpret the reasons for the test results.
For those of you playing along at home, what you're seeing is an example of the Cosmological Argument for the existence of God. It's one of my favorites, because there's no way to prove it correct or incorrect, so you can keep arguing forever!
This is a great idea. By subjecting CEOs to the negative consequences of the company's business practices, they justify their high salaries and we get a virtuous cycle; it's a win-win.
No, actually we don't. It depends on what the people want, since this is a democracy. If the people are a bunch of religious nuts, then the education standard needs to include religion (whichever flavor the majority wants) and omit evolution (of that's what a majority wants). This is the price of democracy: you have to share with all the other people you co-inhabit a region with.
Before you respond further, please read up on Tyranny of the Majority, and why it's a bad thing, and how respecting the rights of the individual is essential to a functioning democracy. (Hint: Your logic eats itself.)
Where did this myth come from? As a parent of young children, I found that for the most part, kids are not expensive. There's a marginal increase in food / medical / clothing costs, and saving a bit for college, but it's not bad; most of the big expenses (housing, bills, saving for retirement) stay the same.
The only thing expensive about having kids is day care / preschool, which is pricey. But if one parent doesn't work, then they can take care of the kids. If both parents work, then it's a two-income household, and most should be able to bear that cost. Single parents are truly screwed here.
They're mostly talking about peace between nation-states; not the internal workings of the states themselves, which can still be as tyrannical and oppressive as ever.
They've painted themselves into a corner. They experienced rapid "growth" by decreasing the bottom line. Now investors expect that, and so in order to keep up, they must continue aggressively decreasing the bottom line. If they stop, their stock price will drop as growth slows dramatically. It sucks for all involved, because eventually they'll run out of bottom line to cut, and then everybody's screwed except the investors (and executives) who sell just before that happens.
This is exactly the sort of thing Steve Jobs was talking about in the quote about bean-counters taking over the company and loss of product focus. Making enterprise software on an IBM scale, and doing it well enough to grow constantly, is really super hard. Short-term gains through off-shoring are easy.
The judge agrees with you. He's trying to warn you. His warning is that it's all too easy for government agents to fall into the trap of thinking that you describe when people do not actively guard their own privacy. He's not saying that this is right and proper, he's describing the world as it is, not as it should be.
-- 77IM, we need a moderation "-1, Clearly Didn't RTFA"
I believe the phrase you want is "They were victims of their own success."
It's a pattern that repeats constantly. Arguing against results is hard, and usually stupid. When some new kid comes along and says, "Let's stop doing X, which has been tremendously successful, and switch to Y, which is the next new thing?" the rational response is "How's 'New Coke' selling these days?" And yet, that new kid will be right some small % of the time. How can we determine when that guy is correct?
THAT's the question we should all be asking about Kodak.
As a parent of two small children, I've been forced to do "segmented sleep" for extended periods (our babies were not good eaters so we had to wake them up in the middle of the night for a feeding). It sucks, and I'm positive that I'm not the only parent to have experienced this.
Just going to sleep in the evening and waking up in the morning feels a lot better and more natural to me.
The key to making these meetings go fast is: participants are not allowed to interrupt, discuss, or ask questions while other people are giving status updates. It makes the status updates go really fast. Afterwards, people can stick around and discuss if they want, but are free to leave if they don't need to be part of that discussion.
Slashdot Mirror
I used Google Docs heavily for a few years. Then one day, about two years ago, they disabled offline mode. Guess what happened to me a few weeks later? Yup, I was in some situation with no internet access and needed a document and couldn't get it. I dropped Docs like a hot rock and switched to Dropbox the next day. (Granted, they now have offline access once again, through the very nice Google Drive. But, you know, "screw me twice," and all that.)
OTOH, I use Maps all the time, and Translate and YouTube. I arrived on this page via Google Reader and am entering this comment via my Nexus 7. So clearly they know how to make (or acquire) some good products.
Final note: Google relentlessly a/b tests everything. They know exactly how many people are rejecting the GMail redesign, or how many uses they stand to lose by killing iGoogle. Sometimes I think these cold, rational decisions backfire, as they annoy a vocal minority or misinterpret the reasons for the test results.
-- 77IM
Funniest: Battlepug -- http://battlepug.com
Best Art: Romantically Apocalyptic -- http://romanticallyapocalyptic.com
Best Overall: Hunter Black -- http://www.hunterblackcomics.com
For those of you playing along at home, what you're seeing is an example of the Cosmological Argument for the existence of God. It's one of my favorites, because there's no way to prove it correct or incorrect, so you can keep arguing forever!
-- 77IM
This is a great idea. By subjecting CEOs to the negative consequences of the company's business practices, they justify their high salaries and we get a virtuous cycle; it's a win-win.
-- 77IM
The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg
Andrew Oliver is the idiot who couldn't tell the difference between senior developers, rock star developers, and prima donna developers.
How do I add his articles to my "ignore" list?
-- 77IM
No, actually we don't. It depends on what the people want, since this is a democracy. If the people are a bunch of religious nuts, then the education standard needs to include religion (whichever flavor the majority wants) and omit evolution (of that's what a majority wants). This is the price of democracy: you have to share with all the other people you co-inhabit a region with.
Before you respond further, please read up on Tyranny of the Majority, and why it's a bad thing, and how respecting the rights of the individual is essential to a functioning democracy. (Hint: Your logic eats itself.)
-- 77IM
The whole essay is a joke.
I'm honestly surprised that Steam hasn't done anything yet in mobile gaming.
Why do you think they are working on a Linux client for Steam? Android is a type of Linux. Steam on Ouya could disrupt the shit out of everybody.
-- 77IM
Where did this myth come from? As a parent of young children, I found that for the most part, kids are not expensive. There's a marginal increase in food / medical / clothing costs, and saving a bit for college, but it's not bad; most of the big expenses (housing, bills, saving for retirement) stay the same.
The only thing expensive about having kids is day care / preschool, which is pricey. But if one parent doesn't work, then they can take care of the kids. If both parents work, then it's a two-income household, and most should be able to bear that cost. Single parents are truly screwed here.
-- 77IM
implement waterfall in a iterative process
That is agile. That's exactly all it is.
I don't dispute the value of your experiences, but maybe learn what you are talking about before offering advice to others.
-- 77IM
They're mostly talking about peace between nation-states; not the internal workings of the states themselves, which can still be as tyrannical and oppressive as ever.
-- 77IM
It's the Hot Pockets. Or the Jimmy Dean Frozen Sausage Biscuits.
This kind of stuff is cheap to buy, quick to make, and very bad for you.
Is there a betting pool on how long Zuck stays in charge of FB post-IPO?
I'll start, at, oh, 3.5 years.
-- 77IM
They've painted themselves into a corner. They experienced rapid "growth" by decreasing the bottom line. Now investors expect that, and so in order to keep up, they must continue aggressively decreasing the bottom line. If they stop, their stock price will drop as growth slows dramatically. It sucks for all involved, because eventually they'll run out of bottom line to cut, and then everybody's screwed except the investors (and executives) who sell just before that happens.
This is exactly the sort of thing Steve Jobs was talking about in the quote about bean-counters taking over the company and loss of product focus. Making enterprise software on an IBM scale, and doing it well enough to grow constantly, is really super hard. Short-term gains through off-shoring are easy.
-- 77IM
I have no idea wtf a logic analyzer is, but I am really really glad that there's a genuine, useful thing out there called "Logic Shrimp."
-- 77IM
No, he's saying that instead of spending tons of money making games LOOK and SOUND better, they should spend that money on making games PLAY better.
-- 77IM
The judge agrees with you. He's trying to warn you. His warning is that it's all too easy for government agents to fall into the trap of thinking that you describe when people do not actively guard their own privacy. He's not saying that this is right and proper, he's describing the world as it is, not as it should be.
-- 77IM, we need a moderation "-1, Clearly Didn't RTFA"
Let me rephrase your rephrase:
"Law enforcement will not respect people who do not respect themselves."
I believe the phrase you want is "They were victims of their own success."
It's a pattern that repeats constantly. Arguing against results is hard, and usually stupid. When some new kid comes along and says, "Let's stop doing X, which has been tremendously successful, and switch to Y, which is the next new thing?" the rational response is "How's 'New Coke' selling these days?" And yet, that new kid will be right some small % of the time. How can we determine when that guy is correct?
THAT's the question we should all be asking about Kodak.
-- 77IM
As a parent of two small children, I've been forced to do "segmented sleep" for extended periods (our babies were not good eaters so we had to wake them up in the middle of the night for a feeding). It sucks, and I'm positive that I'm not the only parent to have experienced this.
Just going to sleep in the evening and waking up in the morning feels a lot better and more natural to me.
-- 77IM
The key to making these meetings go fast is: participants are not allowed to interrupt, discuss, or ask questions while other people are giving status updates. It makes the status updates go really fast. Afterwards, people can stick around and discuss if they want, but are free to leave if they don't need to be part of that discussion.
-- 77IM
Maybe the real quiz is whether you're geeky enough to figure out how to load the quiz.
-- 77IM