My in-laws from China are always wanting to pick mushrooms out of the yard to eat. It's amazing what living through the Cultural Revolution will do to make you save every penny and eat anything you can find not nailed down.
Oh great, so we have that to look forward to, as our very own cultural revolution proceeds...
You share the dream of every Marketing department in existence. Can't we just get rid of those unfashionable expensive guys who write all that cryptic code stuff?
The problem is that everything that can implement complex logic becomes programming, at some point. And for some reason it's actually not more efficient to have your Marketers become programmers in strange, clunky, non-standard languages, instead of spending their time, oh, I don't know, actually doing some marketing.
This is partly the reason why surviving languages use symbols representing sounds rather than images as the Egyptians used. It's faster to write, and possibly faster to read.
Mod parent up. This comment could be applied far beyond this UI discussion.
The "insignificant but essential changes" justification is especially prevalent when said changes are being mandated rather than made optional, as in a government/citizen or employer/employee relationship. It is often paired with lines such as, "you'll come to like it!" or, "be a team player!"
It's also very insulting. "Sure, lots of you don't like it, but you're all stupid to react that way, seeing how insignificant it is."
Excellent point. Similarly, I can't figure out why parents in general want their kids to do shit that they don't want to do to be "successful". Wouldn't you just want your kid to be happy?
For some reason, I thought we were adults... I see that was a mistake.
Do you know why this topic comes up often?
1) Males in the tech industry have trouble finding females that share that passion.
2) Repeat #1
This is the classic "have cake and eat it too" problem. Men in tech wish there were women who enjoyed talking about devices, source code licenses, functional programming, Star Trek TNG or about Hobbits or some such thing, arguing about strong client versus weak client, whether compiled versus interpreted versus JIT is the way to go.
Not bloody likely.
You know, I was wondering how much that played a part... you're probably right.
It all has to do with the decline in receptionists.
Spread the word by mentioning this in every article's comments.
Here is Dice's "Contact Us" page. Everybody be sure to call them tomorrow using whatever numbers from that page you can get to ring. Tell every darn receptionist in every darn one of Dice's holdings, along with anyone you can get them to connect you to, that the Slashdot beta is terrible and you won't shut up until it goes away. Fax them a well-illustrated complaint or two or three. Send them a choice letter via snail mail, along with whatever memorabilia you wish.
They keep soliciting our feedback, they can get our feedback, right where it counts.
The most obvious contact points are:
Dice Holdings Inc.
1040 Avenue of the Americas, 8th Floor
New York, NY 10018
T: 212-725-6550
F: 212-725-6559
Slashdot
594 Howard St Suite 300
San Francisco, CA 94105
Tel: +1-877-433-5638
www.slashdot.com
Wow, they don't even have an online contact form. High tech to the core, they are...
Well, I'm normally against childish flaming, but this beta thing has me upset.
Especially since I have been giving regular feedback ever since they started rolling out this crap.
When did "keeping us safe" become the primary function of government? Oh, that's right, George Bush and John Ashcroft used that as an excuse to make us live in a police state right after 9/11. Now it has spread to the whole democratic West. Good thing the terrorists didn't win.
I'll just keep saying this and you all can just keep modding me down: for more than half a decade one Barack H Obama has been 100% in charge of the federal "security" apparatus.
As long as you keep pretending that isn't true, this is all just useless bellyaching.
Users who have very narrow IT training may think there is only one way to do a task, and may not bother to ask for help because they don't even know that an alternative exists. Only people with slightly broader training will even be aware that there are things like scripts that can automate tedious processes.
That's assuming most people even want to simplify their tasks.
Way back when I was a technical writer, I'll never forget the former coworker who would de-stress by spending mindless time deleting centerlines and such from AutoCAD drawings (in preparation for grabbing simplified drawings as starting points for technical illustrations). Select a centerline. Delete. Repeat hundreds of times.
He was... less than pleased... when I showed him in front of someone else how to turn off layers...
If the change is really so insignificant... why the hell would you change it?
Oh, because it's 'stale', and God forbid, we can't have anything 'stale' when we could have NEW and SHINY.
Great question.
People are always telling objectors that the changes are both insignificant, and also so absolutely essential that they just need to get with the program. Doesn't make a whole lot of logical sense.
I wish I could disagree, but I help so many users that run one program full screen. I just sit back and shake my head as they constantly switch from one program to another instead of arranging the program windows to see everything they need at one time.
It really start to piss me off when they have two monitors and switch between two programs, both on the main screen, both full screen. Then they wonder why it takes so long to get things done.
Nobody ever seems to mention this way: most windows I do use maximized, but I just ALT+TAB between them. Lightning fast.
And yes, I'm still a freakin' "power user". Maybe even more so, as I'm capable of simply remaining aware that other windows are open, instead of needing small windows overlapping each other all over the place.
Have 'em shipped to work to avoid the whole randomness of where packages get left thing.
This is getting common enough that some companies are starting to complain, though. If a few people do it occasionally it's no big deal, but if 500 employees are each receiving multiple packages a week, it starts becoming a significant added burden on the corporate mailroom.
I work in a small office, and we don't have a mailroom. I either pick it up from the receptionist's desk, or she drops it on my desk.
I'd like to think I was exaggerating for effect, but judging by the past decade, I'm really not. The current security apparatus really is self-parodying.
For the majority of "the past decade" - the most recent majority - "the current security apparatus" has been run by one Barack H. Obama.
Slashdot Mirror
My in-laws from China are always wanting to pick mushrooms out of the yard to eat. It's amazing what living through the Cultural Revolution will do to make you save every penny and eat anything you can find not nailed down.
Oh great, so we have that to look forward to, as our very own cultural revolution proceeds ...
"climate change deniers"?
Ah, where would we be if we couldn't put others down ... makes you feel good, huh?
Writing code is easy. Ridiculously easy.
Um, right. It's so ridiculously easy that after decades of it, doing it even reasonably well is still a sought after and well-compensated skill.
It's so ridiculously easy that people keep proposing these "teach everybody to code" things, and they don't work.
It must be the Illuminati who keep it from working. Or those wascally wepubwicans.
Hell, back in the 80's it was common for kids under 10 to teach themselves how to program.
Um, I was around then. It wasn't "common" - it was only "common" among those who had aptitude for it. Like, you know, today.
Because it's not really about anyone learning to code. Doesn't seem to be, anyway.
It's about looking (and perhaps feeling) like you care about the "right" things. No need for actual code knowledge for that.
You share the dream of every Marketing department in existence. Can't we just get rid of those unfashionable expensive guys who write all that cryptic code stuff?
The problem is that everything that can implement complex logic becomes programming, at some point. And for some reason it's actually not more efficient to have your Marketers become programmers in strange, clunky, non-standard languages, instead of spending their time, oh, I don't know, actually doing some marketing.
This is partly the reason why surviving languages use symbols representing sounds rather than images as the Egyptians used. It's faster to write, and possibly faster to read.
Except minor little languages like Chinese? :)
(I agree with you about the code, though)
In order to be "both", the choice to use "classic" has to remain. Like, stay. Like, not go away.
Mod parent up. This comment could be applied far beyond this UI discussion.
The "insignificant but essential changes" justification is especially prevalent when said changes are being mandated rather than made optional, as in a government/citizen or employer/employee relationship. It is often paired with lines such as, "you'll come to like it!" or, "be a team player!"
It's also very insulting. "Sure, lots of you don't like it, but you're all stupid to react that way, seeing how insignificant it is."
Excellent point. Similarly, I can't figure out why parents in general want their kids to do shit that they don't want to do to be "successful". Wouldn't you just want your kid to be happy?
For some reason, I thought we were adults ... I see that was a mistake.
Do you know why this topic comes up often? 1) Males in the tech industry have trouble finding females that share that passion. 2) Repeat #1 This is the classic "have cake and eat it too" problem. Men in tech wish there were women who enjoyed talking about devices, source code licenses, functional programming, Star Trek TNG or about Hobbits or some such thing, arguing about strong client versus weak client, whether compiled versus interpreted versus JIT is the way to go. Not bloody likely.
You know, I was wondering how much that played a part ... you're probably right.
It all has to do with the decline in receptionists.
It will be a complete waste of time. Mr. Ham isn't there to change his opinion of anything.
As opposed to Mr. Nye, who ... is there to change his opinion of anything?
Spread the word by mentioning this in every article's comments.
Here is Dice's "Contact Us" page. Everybody be sure to call them tomorrow using whatever numbers from that page you can get to ring. Tell every darn receptionist in every darn one of Dice's holdings, along with anyone you can get them to connect you to, that the Slashdot beta is terrible and you won't shut up until it goes away. Fax them a well-illustrated complaint or two or three. Send them a choice letter via snail mail, along with whatever memorabilia you wish.
They keep soliciting our feedback, they can get our feedback, right where it counts.
The most obvious contact points are:
Dice Holdings Inc. 1040 Avenue of the Americas, 8th Floor New York, NY 10018 T: 212-725-6550 F: 212-725-6559
Slashdot 594 Howard St Suite 300 San Francisco, CA 94105 Tel: +1-877-433-5638 www.slashdot.com
Wow, they don't even have an online contact form. High tech to the core, they are ...
Well, I'm normally against childish flaming, but this beta thing has me upset. Especially since I have been giving regular feedback ever since they started rolling out this crap.
Why are they continuing? Death march...
Because somebody's getting paid to do it.
Don't be like every other lame site out there. Dare to be different. You know, maybe even nerdy ...
Why, exactly, "should" we try to get people to do what they don't want to do?
Everything, and everyone, needs some slack.
You wouldn't engineer machinery with zero tolerance. There has to be some give, or the machinery fails.
Humans deserve no less.
When did "keeping us safe" become the primary function of government? Oh, that's right, George Bush and John Ashcroft used that as an excuse to make us live in a police state right after 9/11. Now it has spread to the whole democratic West. Good thing the terrorists didn't win.
I'll just keep saying this and you all can just keep modding me down: for more than half a decade one Barack H Obama has been 100% in charge of the federal "security" apparatus.
As long as you keep pretending that isn't true, this is all just useless bellyaching.
Who on God's green earth benefits from this, besides those who sell domain names?
Users who have very narrow IT training may think there is only one way to do a task, and may not bother to ask for help because they don't even know that an alternative exists. Only people with slightly broader training will even be aware that there are things like scripts that can automate tedious processes.
That's assuming most people even want to simplify their tasks.
Way back when I was a technical writer, I'll never forget the former coworker who would de-stress by spending mindless time deleting centerlines and such from AutoCAD drawings (in preparation for grabbing simplified drawings as starting points for technical illustrations). Select a centerline. Delete. Repeat hundreds of times.
He was ... less than pleased ... when I showed him in front of someone else how to turn off layers ...
If the change is really so insignificant... why the hell would you change it?
Oh, because it's 'stale', and God forbid, we can't have anything 'stale' when we could have NEW and SHINY.
Great question.
People are always telling objectors that the changes are both insignificant, and also so absolutely essential that they just need to get with the program. Doesn't make a whole lot of logical sense.
I wish I could disagree, but I help so many users that run one program full screen. I just sit back and shake my head as they constantly switch from one program to another instead of arranging the program windows to see everything they need at one time.
It really start to piss me off when they have two monitors and switch between two programs, both on the main screen, both full screen. Then they wonder why it takes so long to get things done.
Nobody ever seems to mention this way: most windows I do use maximized, but I just ALT+TAB between them. Lightning fast.
And yes, I'm still a freakin' "power user". Maybe even more so, as I'm capable of simply remaining aware that other windows are open, instead of needing small windows overlapping each other all over the place.
What is a "Classic Desktop" and in what way are the other GUIs being discussed not "Classic Desktops"?
It's a desktop from right before everyone decided to make your desktop look like a phone.
... I know it's another day, so Slashdot has to find another Republican to bash, but a lone senator can't keep a program funded.
Have 'em shipped to work to avoid the whole randomness of where packages get left thing.
This is getting common enough that some companies are starting to complain, though. If a few people do it occasionally it's no big deal, but if 500 employees are each receiving multiple packages a week, it starts becoming a significant added burden on the corporate mailroom.
I work in a small office, and we don't have a mailroom. I either pick it up from the receptionist's desk, or she drops it on my desk.
If anybody minded, I wouldn't do it.
I'd like to think I was exaggerating for effect, but judging by the past decade, I'm really not. The current security apparatus really is self-parodying.
For the majority of "the past decade" - the most recent majority - "the current security apparatus" has been run by one Barack H. Obama.
Otherwise known as "the darling of Slashdot".