Light rail will still make sense even in the context of driverless cars, because it can be used in areas where vehicular traffic is heavily restricted.
....and this is why some people don't get laid. IJS.
Really, the knee-jerk reactions have gotten tired. Yeah, everybody makes jokes about other systems - Linux guys tell jokes about Windows and Mac, etc. But y'know what? They all have their place, and sometimes the cute girl actually, you know, is using Windows to run spreadsheets or databases to do legitimate, difficult work. Yeah, sometimes it'd be easier on Linux - or easier, anyhow, for anyone who's been doing LAMP for years and has some background - but if she can do her work on Windows (or Mac, or whatever), don't deride her choices, be glad that she's using computing resources to do something complex....we need every brain we can get working at full capacity these days.:-)
Good snark. But for all that, any platform that people can use to Get Stuff Done is an ok platform. Some people like the pretty of the Mac. Some people like Windows bc it has All Teh Biz Apps Some people like Linux bc reasons too numerous to list (but I totally don't have an opinion) At the end of the day, if the system does what you want it to do - help design and compile software, perform data analysis, display graphics, watch video, edit content, ad infinitum - then it is a useful system for you. If the guy across the street doesn't use the same system, he's not a heretic, and as long as you can reasonably expect to exchange files with other users - a foregone conclusion, these days - then it's all good.
As someone who uses OS X, Windows, Linux, and a few other *nix systems, I see the utility in each.
In terms of Windows, its primary use seems to be as the base for MS Office, which runs better as a fat install on a native Windows install than in any other configuration. And that's not a bad thing - Excel for Windows, for example, is a pretty profound tool, better by far than either cloud versions or what they've released for OS X.
OS X's utility is in its ease of use especially on portable systems. It's not uncommon in my environment for a user to use several different systems - - A Windows system (either local or a virtual session) - a Citrix/NX client to a Linux system (usually but not always a VM, and generally not dedicated per user) - a Mac - often an Air - with which they attend meetings and connect to Windows or Linux systems
The staff uses each platform as needed....there are die-hard Windows and Mac and Linux users who scarcely ever use the other two, and there are people (like me) who switch easily.
And Windows 10, just now starting to get into the mix, doesn't seem to be horrible. Haven't found obvious limitations yet (but haven't been using it long). We'll see how it pans out - I'm suspecting, like Win7, it won't be a really big splash, just gradual expansion into the Windows part of the enterprise.
Are you sure that your solution, however valuable, is monetizable as a discrete product?
I built something some years ago which tied calendars from various sources together in a single view. It was, if I may say so, a neat piece of work, and open source....however, it died on the vine because iOS and Android devices included that functionality as part of their base product. And I do't really have an issue with it, because the base need - consolidation of calendars - was recognized as a near-universal use case (vs consolidation of email accounts, which users often want to view separately).
So great ideas which deal with obvious use-cases may show up in mass-market offerings because they're obvious....and render other efforts redundant. If your use case is truly unique and unlikely to be directly addressed, that's great, but the next question is whether or not there's a sustainable market for it. Right now, there's a huge market for pluggable and easily-implementable analytics, and a number of smaller companies which built such software have been eaten up by the majors to shorten the development curve. Most of these solutions are frameworks, and they're built that way, with the intent to sell to a large commercial buyer who will then tailor the solution to their specific need, and productize it for specific environments. In that kind of case, designers can enjoy both sale of company/IP and ongoing development, so there's a business model.
I think, net-net, that the ecosystem has evolved to a place where most new growth is accretive rather than disruptive. And until the Next Big Thing comes along, the business model of choice will be to layer on add-ons to the existing model.
REAMDE was a little hard to get through, but that's because he jump-cuts more abruptly and in a shorter fashion, with fewer details, than other books. Still a great story and the big cat near the end was utterly satisfying......
I've read Anathem several times and have enjoyed it a lot, the internal contradictions notwithstanding. The lack of explanation of the interaction between the cloistered and common worlds rang a bit false - I'd like to have seen some more concrete stuff - but it's a great space opera. And the last hundred and fifty pages are just plain fun.....
+ another one for Redmine. Works pretty well, easy to customize, relatively clear, and sends a bunch of email to ensure that relevant parties see updates.
The controllers for guitar games are kind of lame.....
I'd like to see a real instrument as a controller, with wired frets etc; that way you could practice while playing the game, and actually learn something while gaming.
Ken Macleod's The Night Sessions deals with AIs and religion, and it's a bit unnerving, because the AIs in the book interpret scripture in ways that are clearly at variance with what was expected by those proselytizing to those AIs. It tacitly makes the point that no one can really identify an AI's motivations, as they're inherently different from human minds and consequently have drives of which we're not necessarily aware.
(plus it's a rollicking good read - all of Macleod's SF work is)
Yep. I have had to fight with them on so many levels, in both personal and professional settings; they were bad actors. They've brought regulation on themslelves because they've done bad things and then they've tried to shut down discussion of the issue while stonewalling any form of redress. I can't wait for them to become a utility, as in France, where the speeds to the curb are a damn sight faster than here in the Valley....
...and painters and interior decorators often need to be represented by a licensed contractor.
LIcensing is a relatively low-impact way of vetting businesses - a business that lacks certification often will cut corners elsewhere as well.
Typical libertarian 'the market will decide' twaddle. What they miss is that by the time the market decides - if it does, which is somewhat of a gamble - real harms will already have been done, and redress may not be possible.
Even if Boeing stopped building 747 variants tomorrow, they'd be around for ages. They're the mainstay for long-haul travel, and dwindling sales probably are more related to market saturation - as in, there are enough in the air now to meet current demand - than any inherent shortcoming in the design.
I suspect that there are more refinements to come - it's just too useful an airframe to discard. It may take Boeing a bit to roll in some of the working dreamliner tech but it seems reasonable that they'd try to do that when time and demand permit.
I'd like to see it happen - it really would make a difference in the world bc it changes cost structures and allows more people to get in the game, esp in poor countries.
I've been running Linux on portable systems since it was released, and it's good. Unfortunately, it doesn't do the same sort of vertical hardware integration as, for example, Apple, so people don't see immediate refresh from hibernation right out of the box, and so think it is deficient or not as advanced. That's unfortunate, and a lot of it is the result of people building optional functionality but a lack of consensus regarding which packages and functionality should be included right out of the gate for a consumer system. With a variety of packages for what users now expect enabled on a commodity PC, it'll do just fine...........I hope.
Slashdot Mirror
The folks at DWave would probably say no:
http://www.dwavesys.com/
They've been working on it for a while. :)
goofy = left foot forward
Light rail will still make sense even in the context of driverless cars, because it can be used in areas where vehicular traffic is heavily restricted.
Yup, pretty much. :)
....and this is why some people don't get laid. IJS.
Really, the knee-jerk reactions have gotten tired. Yeah, everybody makes jokes about other systems - Linux guys tell jokes about Windows and Mac, etc. But y'know what? They all have their place, and sometimes the cute girl actually, you know, is using Windows to run spreadsheets or databases to do legitimate, difficult work. Yeah, sometimes it'd be easier on Linux - or easier, anyhow, for anyone who's been doing LAMP for years and has some background - but if she can do her work on Windows (or Mac, or whatever), don't deride her choices, be glad that she's using computing resources to do something complex....we need every brain we can get working at full capacity these days. :-)
Good snark. But for all that, any platform that people can use to Get Stuff Done is an ok platform.
Some people like the pretty of the Mac.
Some people like Windows bc it has All Teh Biz Apps
Some people like Linux bc reasons too numerous to list (but I totally don't have an opinion)
At the end of the day, if the system does what you want it to do - help design and compile software, perform data analysis, display graphics, watch video, edit content, ad infinitum - then it is a useful system for you. If the guy across the street doesn't use the same system, he's not a heretic, and as long as you can reasonably expect to exchange files with other users - a foregone conclusion, these days - then it's all good.
As someone who uses OS X, Windows, Linux, and a few other *nix systems, I see the utility in each.
In terms of Windows, its primary use seems to be as the base for MS Office, which runs better as a fat install on a native Windows install than in any other configuration. And that's not a bad thing - Excel for Windows, for example, is a pretty profound tool, better by far than either cloud versions or what they've released for OS X.
OS X's utility is in its ease of use especially on portable systems. It's not uncommon in my environment for a user to use several different systems -
- A Windows system (either local or a virtual session)
- a Citrix/NX client to a Linux system (usually but not always a VM, and generally not dedicated per user)
- a Mac - often an Air - with which they attend meetings and connect to Windows or Linux systems
The staff uses each platform as needed....there are die-hard Windows and Mac and Linux users who scarcely ever use the other two, and there are people (like me) who switch easily.
And Windows 10, just now starting to get into the mix, doesn't seem to be horrible. Haven't found obvious limitations yet (but haven't been using it long). We'll see how it pans out - I'm suspecting, like Win7, it won't be a really big splash, just gradual expansion into the Windows part of the enterprise.
Are you sure that your solution, however valuable, is monetizable as a discrete product?
I built something some years ago which tied calendars from various sources together in a single view. It was, if I may say so, a neat piece of work, and open source....however, it died on the vine because iOS and Android devices included that functionality as part of their base product. And I do't really have an issue with it, because the base need - consolidation of calendars - was recognized as a near-universal use case (vs consolidation of email accounts, which users often want to view separately).
So great ideas which deal with obvious use-cases may show up in mass-market offerings because they're obvious....and render other efforts redundant. If your use case is truly unique and unlikely to be directly addressed, that's great, but the next question is whether or not there's a sustainable market for it. Right now, there's a huge market for pluggable and easily-implementable analytics, and a number of smaller companies which built such software have been eaten up by the majors to shorten the development curve. Most of these solutions are frameworks, and they're built that way, with the intent to sell to a large commercial buyer who will then tailor the solution to their specific need, and productize it for specific environments. In that kind of case, designers can enjoy both sale of company/IP and ongoing development, so there's a business model.
I think, net-net, that the ecosystem has evolved to a place where most new growth is accretive rather than disruptive. And until the Next Big Thing comes along, the business model of choice will be to layer on add-ons to the existing model.
Yep. The inability to perform adequate self-assessment lies at the core of Dunning-Krueger.
REAMDE was a little hard to get through, but that's because he jump-cuts more abruptly and in a shorter fashion, with fewer details, than other books. Still a great story and the big cat near the end was utterly satisfying......
Loved the Baroque Cycle to death, but then I love big, picky books. Thomas Hardy is not my enemy....
I've read Anathem several times and have enjoyed it a lot, the internal contradictions notwithstanding. The lack of explanation of the interaction between the cloistered and common worlds rang a bit false - I'd like to have seen some more concrete stuff - but it's a great space opera. And the last hundred and fifty pages are just plain fun.....
+ another one for Redmine. Works pretty well, easy to customize, relatively clear, and sends a bunch of email to ensure that relevant parties see updates.
Don't you mean DMSO?
The controllers for guitar games are kind of lame.....
I'd like to see a real instrument as a controller, with wired frets etc; that way you could practice while playing the game, and actually learn something while gaming.
Ken Macleod's The Night Sessions deals with AIs and religion, and it's a bit unnerving, because the AIs in the book interpret scripture in ways that are clearly at variance with what was expected by those proselytizing to those AIs. It tacitly makes the point that no one can really identify an AI's motivations, as they're inherently different from human minds and consequently have drives of which we're not necessarily aware.
(plus it's a rollicking good read - all of Macleod's SF work is)
P=NP
Yep. I have had to fight with them on so many levels, in both personal and professional settings; they were bad actors. They've brought regulation on themslelves because they've done bad things and then they've tried to shut down discussion of the issue while stonewalling any form of redress. I can't wait for them to become a utility, as in France, where the speeds to the curb are a damn sight faster than here in the Valley....
...and painters and interior decorators often need to be represented by a licensed contractor.
LIcensing is a relatively low-impact way of vetting businesses - a business that lacks certification often will cut corners elsewhere as well.
Typical libertarian 'the market will decide' twaddle. What they miss is that by the time the market decides - if it does, which is somewhat of a gamble - real harms will already have been done, and redress may not be possible.
Naah, the 1%-libertarians would just whine that the regulation that doesn't allow you to poison others without sanction constitutes prior restraint.
Comcast will suddenly get religion and actually start providing the speeds they advertise.... .....(or not)
Even if Boeing stopped building 747 variants tomorrow, they'd be around for ages. They're the mainstay for long-haul travel, and dwindling sales probably are more related to market saturation - as in, there are enough in the air now to meet current demand - than any inherent shortcoming in the design.
I suspect that there are more refinements to come - it's just too useful an airframe to discard. It may take Boeing a bit to roll in some of the working dreamliner tech but it seems reasonable that they'd try to do that when time and demand permit.
SharkNebula, now on SyFy!
I'd like to see it happen - it really would make a difference in the world bc it changes cost structures and allows more people to get in the game, esp in poor countries.
I've been running Linux on portable systems since it was released, and it's good. Unfortunately, it doesn't do the same sort of vertical hardware integration as, for example, Apple, so people don't see immediate refresh from hibernation right out of the box, and so think it is deficient or not as advanced. That's unfortunate, and a lot of it is the result of people building optional functionality but a lack of consensus regarding which packages and functionality should be included right out of the gate for a consumer system. With a variety of packages for what users now expect enabled on a commodity PC, it'll do just fine...... .....I hope.
Yeah, mostly it works but on the off chance it doesn't....well, I'd lose the ability to work for certain (SA who lives at terminals).