Yes, in the majority of cases more competition is better. Then there are operating systems.
Until applications and data are built on completely open standards -- interoperable with ANY capable device -- this multiple OS business is just a hassle for consumers.
Imagine if your must-have pizza topping was incompatible with any other company's pizzas!
It does matter. An employer wants to get information about you as fast as possible from your resume. If they see "IT *" rather than "* Developer" or "* Engineer", you'll lose points if they aren't looking for an IT guy. Sucks but it's true.
A good programmer must be able to precisely articulate exactly what he/she wants to have the machine do.
I don't agree with you. It's funny how my dad is a machine electrician and I am a programmer. There is grunt work to be done in both fields, but every time we talk about our work it always comes down to design.
Knowing how to make the machine do what doesn't make a strong programmer. I'm sure that you are a good programmer: how many times have you forgotten a cast or how to do a certain operation. I'm betting just as much as any other good programmer. If you forget these things you can easily look it up or check out some reference code.
The real strength of a programmer is in design: re-usability, extendability, readability, robustness, and performance. The good programmers balance these factors to produce a solution that works well now and can be easily adapted to new problems.
The irony is that this follows for many careers: farming, electricians, medicine, surgery, programming, mechanics. The ones who know what makes a good solution, not just how to implement those solutions, are the ones with the real skills.
But even if the problems are real and widespread, calling it a lack of QA is nothing more than jumping to conclusions at this point.
Proper QA would have caught the problems and prevented such an unstable release.
The reality is that linux runs on vastly more hardware than Windows does, and those users are much more likely to have non-standard and otherwise more complicated configurations. It's impossible to test on all of them, much less cost-prohibitive.
You can't just excuse Linux because it runs on a greater variety of hardware. If variety of hardware becomes a problem then you need to either limit the allowable hardware or let the users know what is stable and what may not be.
Pouncing on Ubuntu for problems and claiming it's because of lack of QA, while happily ignoring similar issues from Microsoft but giving them credit for their QA is hypocritical at best. Maybe "Hypocritical" would be a better mod, but in its absence it doesn't seem as though "Troll" or "Flamebait" are that far off the mark.
Where exactly do you get the idea that people ignore these issues with Microsoft? Microsoft got hosed for Vista since its release and nearly caused a generation-long boycott of the OS by the public. If you ask me, this release of Ubuntu should face the same criticism.
It seems to me like any cream, painkiller or not, would have soothed some pain as the result of a burn. Isn't this a bad test since the spinal cord would exhibit some kind of pain-soothing activity anyway?
GPS is a free service. It's no wonder that it would become hard to make money off of it after awhile. At least Tom Tom and Garmin aren't crying for a bailout.
If you don't like the way a company does business, don't do business with them; don't buy the product, don't pirate it.
That logic doesn't work either though. Say you don't like the customer service at AT&T. You would say "If you don't like the way they do business, don't do business with them". Well, too bad. You require phone and internet, and it just so happens that every telecom has shitty customer service, just like AT&T.
By making your argument you assumed that there was other better options available. Often there isn't. Such is with the case of things like cars, music, telecommunications,... the list goes on. It's not the customer that's wrong, it's the business and its model.
I'll go on to say that the things we "agree to" while using software these days are ridiculous. We no longer own software, but are licensed to use it. They take away our right of sale but we still pay the same amount. And, lo and behold, nearly every software developer does it. We have no choice.
I'm not trying to back piracy or anything, but the fairness should go both ways between customers and companies. Currently the customers are getting it up the bum while the companies reap all the rewards.
Actually, applications developed on earlier API levels (as Android calls them) are always forward compatible with newer API levels. Sure, APIs may be deprecated and replaced with newer interfaces, like any platform, but it won't cause your app to break as you are implying.
With the new Android SDK things like different screen sizes are being allowed, which I consider a boon. The one thing that always bugged me about BlackBerry was the different screen sizes and device capabilities. Now Android developers have the same thing to worry about. Bah... It's the one thing that Apple did right: keep the core platform identical and you save developers a lot of hard work.
Not true. Put your finger on a touchpad and hold it there. Does the mouse move continuously? Does it continually click from the double-tap function?
No, because it works on a differential. So resting your fingers on the mouse as normal is fine.
But then you're left with a new problem. Now when you need to select/click, you have to lift your finger up first and then tap back down. This is a problem with non-clicking trackpads, which are on most laptops. And trust me, it's really annoying.
The law recognizes that words may be reused (ie: Monster the website, Monster cable, etc.). But logo is worth a thousand words. As in, you can't just copy someone else's logo.
But in this case, I don't think the two logos are similar enough to warrant a lawsuit.
I once bought an HP laptop from Futureshop and posted a great review. About a week later the laptop had given me so many problems that it was unusable. I returned it and posted another review redacting everything I had said. Both reviews remained on the site. I was impressed.
People aren't returning these machines more because they have Ubuntu, they're buying them more because they have Ubuntu.
That's a nice sounding way to spin it. But in TFA it actually says they were buying them because they were cheaper, not because they had Ubuntu.
Normal people don't know what Ubuntu is. They don't know what Windows is. They just want cheap computers and assume that they all have that familiar OS.
You should just be happy that a major computer manufacturer actually offers something other than Windows. They could have just made things easier for themselves, not made the Linux drivers for their machines, and said forgetaboutit.
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, in the majority of cases more competition is better. Then there are operating systems.
Until applications and data are built on completely open standards -- interoperable with ANY capable device -- this multiple OS business is just a hassle for consumers.
Imagine if your must-have pizza topping was incompatible with any other company's pizzas!
It does matter. An employer wants to get information about you as fast as possible from your resume. If they see "IT *" rather than "* Developer" or "* Engineer", you'll lose points if they aren't looking for an IT guy. Sucks but it's true.
A good programmer must be able to precisely articulate exactly what he/she wants to have the machine do.
I don't agree with you. It's funny how my dad is a machine electrician and I am a programmer. There is grunt work to be done in both fields, but every time we talk about our work it always comes down to design.
Knowing how to make the machine do what doesn't make a strong programmer. I'm sure that you are a good programmer: how many times have you forgotten a cast or how to do a certain operation. I'm betting just as much as any other good programmer. If you forget these things you can easily look it up or check out some reference code.
The real strength of a programmer is in design: re-usability, extendability, readability, robustness, and performance. The good programmers balance these factors to produce a solution that works well now and can be easily adapted to new problems.
The irony is that this follows for many careers: farming, electricians, medicine, surgery, programming, mechanics. The ones who know what makes a good solution, not just how to implement those solutions, are the ones with the real skills.
What does calculus have to do with programming? From my experience, nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Try a giant field called Computer Graphics?
But even if the problems are real and widespread, calling it a lack of QA is nothing more than jumping to conclusions at this point.
Proper QA would have caught the problems and prevented such an unstable release.
The reality is that linux runs on vastly more hardware than Windows does, and those users are much more likely to have non-standard and otherwise more complicated configurations. It's impossible to test on all of them, much less cost-prohibitive.
You can't just excuse Linux because it runs on a greater variety of hardware. If variety of hardware becomes a problem then you need to either limit the allowable hardware or let the users know what is stable and what may not be.
Pouncing on Ubuntu for problems and claiming it's because of lack of QA, while happily ignoring similar issues from Microsoft but giving them credit for their QA is hypocritical at best. Maybe "Hypocritical" would be a better mod, but in its absence it doesn't seem as though "Troll" or "Flamebait" are that far off the mark.
Where exactly do you get the idea that people ignore these issues with Microsoft? Microsoft got hosed for Vista since its release and nearly caused a generation-long boycott of the OS by the public. If you ask me, this release of Ubuntu should face the same criticism.
It seems to me like any cream, painkiller or not, would have soothed some pain as the result of a burn. Isn't this a bad test since the spinal cord would exhibit some kind of pain-soothing activity anyway?
I much prefer the pill-based placebo tests.
Because it should be free to have large ships truck it up to the Arctic circle, grab chunks of ice, and haul it back.
GPS is a free service. It's no wonder that it would become hard to make money off of it after awhile. At least Tom Tom and Garmin aren't crying for a bailout.
*cough* Motion Plus *cough*
If you don't like the way a company does business, don't do business with them; don't buy the product, don't pirate it.
That logic doesn't work either though. Say you don't like the customer service at AT&T. You would say "If you don't like the way they do business, don't do business with them". Well, too bad. You require phone and internet, and it just so happens that every telecom has shitty customer service, just like AT&T.
By making your argument you assumed that there was other better options available. Often there isn't. Such is with the case of things like cars, music, telecommunications, ... the list goes on. It's not the customer that's wrong, it's the business and its model.
I'll go on to say that the things we "agree to" while using software these days are ridiculous. We no longer own software, but are licensed to use it. They take away our right of sale but we still pay the same amount. And, lo and behold, nearly every software developer does it. We have no choice.
I'm not trying to back piracy or anything, but the fairness should go both ways between customers and companies. Currently the customers are getting it up the bum while the companies reap all the rewards.
Don't forget satellite guidance programmer Natalya Simonova in James Bond Golden Eye. Damn. Boris was NOT invincible.
Actually, applications developed on earlier API levels (as Android calls them) are always forward compatible with newer API levels. Sure, APIs may be deprecated and replaced with newer interfaces, like any platform, but it won't cause your app to break as you are implying.
With the new Android SDK things like different screen sizes are being allowed, which I consider a boon. The one thing that always bugged me about BlackBerry was the different screen sizes and device capabilities. Now Android developers have the same thing to worry about. Bah... It's the one thing that Apple did right: keep the core platform identical and you save developers a lot of hard work.
What happens when we quadruple the number of subscribers with mobile broadband on their laptops or netbooks?
The same thing that always happens: The telecoms cry like babies and the consumers get less for equal or greater cost.
Not true. Put your finger on a touchpad and hold it there. Does the mouse move continuously? Does it continually click from the double-tap function?
No, because it works on a differential. So resting your fingers on the mouse as normal is fine.
But then you're left with a new problem. Now when you need to select/click, you have to lift your finger up first and then tap back down. This is a problem with non-clicking trackpads, which are on most laptops. And trust me, it's really annoying.
These are prototypes. It looks like the ergonomics of these models could easily be fixed.
The law recognizes that words may be reused (ie: Monster the website, Monster cable, etc.). But logo is worth a thousand words. As in, you can't just copy someone else's logo.
But in this case, I don't think the two logos are similar enough to warrant a lawsuit.
I once bought an HP laptop from Futureshop and posted a great review. About a week later the laptop had given me so many problems that it was unusable. I returned it and posted another review redacting everything I had said. Both reviews remained on the site. I was impressed.
^dbag
Voice on the Go
I think I was taught that in grade 9 or 10.
Lets look at the root of the problem. Like the fact that the gym teacher also teaches history and math...
We don't need to educate people about computers - we need to educate people about the value of professional IT training and certification.
Mod up!
I just can't imagine how much it would cost to have certified technicians repair computers rather than high school kids at Best Buy.
Well.. well... gad damn!
People aren't returning these machines more because they have Ubuntu, they're buying them more because they have Ubuntu.
That's a nice sounding way to spin it. But in TFA it actually says they were buying them because they were cheaper, not because they had Ubuntu.
Normal people don't know what Ubuntu is. They don't know what Windows is. They just want cheap computers and assume that they all have that familiar OS.
How did this get modded insightful? What lies?
You should just be happy that a major computer manufacturer actually offers something other than Windows. They could have just made things easier for themselves, not made the Linux drivers for their machines, and said forgetaboutit.
Take the small victories.