That's what I want to say whenever I read one of Jaron Lanier's nonsensical bloviations.
Ideas are great, but any asshole can have them. Accomplishments matter. If "phenotropics" really is the way to go, produce a working implementation and if it really is something special, engineers will go "hey, that's cool" and implement it. You won't win terribly many competent converts to your cause if all you've to show for it are a bunch of Mondo 2000 style essays.
When Intel Inside first started appearing on computers Dvorak predicted that it would be followed soon by enough manufacturer labels ("floppy drives by Toshiba", "screws by Acme") to make computers look like NASCAR racers. This prediction actually came true; recently I bought a Toshiba laptop and found that it had come adorned not just by the CPU manufacturer (Intel), but the video chipset, sound chipset, and wireless chipset manufacturers as well, and of course there's the required "Designed for Microsoft Windows XP" sticker. I carefully scraped each and every one of those stickers off and now the laptop looks great, but I hope this shift in marketing direction means less eyesore decoration on machines out of the box.
Re:I guess it depends on where you came from
on
Java Is So 90s
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· Score: 2, Insightful
2) coders who treated C++ as "C, with some new features" rather than treating it like "Java where you can import C functions". Use vectors, smart pointers, etc. and the language miraculously changes from fugly to pleasant.
If you're going to do that, you may as well use Objective-C, or as I like to refer to it, "C++ done right".
Re:The real 90s versus outdated 00s software
on
Java Is So 90s
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· Score: 1
RSS is the new push. I see weather, news, etc. above my Gmail now.
1) Objective-C is supported wherever gcc is. Get a klew.
2) With the GNUstep api, you can write code which targets Cocoa but is portable to other platforms. You may have to rebuild your NIBs in Gorm, however; but if you wrote a platform-agnostic back end this is a cosmetic issue.
3) If you're using Carbon, your interests really are Mac only.
Try putting him in front of a Linux machine with Emacs and the GNU toolchain. That's a teaching aid... in the same way that "learning to swim the Stennis way" is. A lot of hackers learned in precisely this fashion, however.
Mario Sunshine Zelda Wind Waker Metroid Prime Sonic Heroes
I know that picking these games apart is the thing to do if you are a video game reviewer, especially WW and Heroes, but *I* enjoyed them. And I know that Heroes was a multiplatform release but the PS2 version sucked and the Xbox version was awkward to control because Heroes was designed to be played with the Cube's nonstandard button configuration.
If Nintendo produces games that people enjoy playing, and they're making money, how is that failing?
This, of course, only gets me more excited about the Rev. Especially when you consider the possibilities for Katamari Damacy with that movable, tiltable controller. (Hey, it could happen... they're doing a DS port...)
Re:Sparkle is not a flash killer
on
Flash, Meet Sparkle
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· Score: 5, Insightful
"programs like winamp"?
How about "programs like MS Office" which since God knows when has come with its own separate widgetset? You see, those UI guidelines, those are for *other* programmers to follow.
The bombes used in Bletchley Park were, strictly speaking, not general purpose computing devices. The first Turing-complete computing machine was ENIAC and it was used to calculate ballistic trajectories, not to crack codes.
Of course if you want to play fast 'n' loose with the definition of "computer" there were plenty of electromechanical calculators and *analog* devices which predate the enigma cracking effort by a fair amount. And don't get me started on Konrad Zuse...
It makes a lot more sense to have one menu for the whole program, and put it at the top of the screen where it is easily accessible with a flick of the mouse. Usability test after usability test has confirmed this, and Windows and Un*x have yet to catch up.
Look for the little yellow fuzzy guy with black spots on his back, says "meh" a lot, reports to a shady sort of wrestleman character, sometimes answers to Ilko Skevüld.
I worry enough about people using replay attacks by recording the signal from my remote-unlock keychain; the last thing I need is a car that can be started remotely via ssh.q
After having seen the paradigms that drive the development of Mac and Linux, Microsoft's poor engineering and duplicitous business tactics become indefensible.
I'm not even willing to say that Linux or Mac is the best OS evar. Clearly there is ample room for improvement. But they *are* tolerable where Windows is not, if you're not the sort of person who has seen only Windows and so thinks "computers crash all the time".
Of course it's just normal griping by the expected percentage of always-disgruntled employees. We here at Yoyodyne value our employees, and try to create a flexible work environment that enables them to be more productive with less stress.
Now quit posting to Slashdot and get back to work. You've got a deadline coming up and it looks like you'll be working an 80-hour week to catch up. I suggest you get busy.
Slashdot Mirror
That's what I want to say whenever I read one of Jaron Lanier's nonsensical bloviations.
Ideas are great, but any asshole can have them. Accomplishments matter. If "phenotropics" really is the way to go, produce a working implementation and if it really is something special, engineers will go "hey, that's cool" and implement it. You won't win terribly many competent converts to your cause if all you've to show for it are a bunch of Mondo 2000 style essays.
When Intel Inside first started appearing on computers Dvorak predicted that it would be followed soon by enough manufacturer labels ("floppy drives by Toshiba", "screws by Acme") to make computers look like NASCAR racers. This prediction actually came true; recently I bought a Toshiba laptop and found that it had come adorned not just by the CPU manufacturer (Intel), but the video chipset, sound chipset, and wireless chipset manufacturers as well, and of course there's the required "Designed for Microsoft Windows XP" sticker. I carefully scraped each and every one of those stickers off and now the laptop looks great, but I hope this shift in marketing direction means less eyesore decoration on machines out of the box.
Avalon.
2) coders who treated C++ as "C, with some new features" rather than treating it like "Java where you can import C functions". Use vectors, smart pointers, etc. and the language miraculously changes from fugly to pleasant.
If you're going to do that, you may as well use Objective-C, or as I like to refer to it, "C++ done right".
RSS is the new push. I see weather, news, etc. above my Gmail now.
You are Emmanuel Goldstein, and I want my five pounds.
1) Objective-C is supported wherever gcc is. Get a klew.
2) With the GNUstep api, you can write code which targets Cocoa but is portable to other platforms. You may have to rebuild your NIBs in Gorm, however; but if you wrote a platform-agnostic back end this is a cosmetic issue.
3) If you're using Carbon, your interests really are Mac only.
Try putting him in front of a Linux machine with Emacs and the GNU toolchain. That's a teaching aid... in the same way that "learning to swim the Stennis way" is. A lot of hackers learned in precisely this fashion, however.
Well.. it's got a new interface.
If they can get Paris Hilton to push it, and maybe license a Doors song for their ad campaign, people will buy it.
Hmmmm, Doors song... *blue screen comes up* "This is the end, beautiful friend, the end..."
Here's four reasons why:
Mario Sunshine
Zelda Wind Waker
Metroid Prime
Sonic Heroes
I know that picking these games apart is the thing to do if you are a video game reviewer, especially WW and Heroes, but *I* enjoyed them. And I know that Heroes was a multiplatform release but the PS2 version sucked and the Xbox version was awkward to control because Heroes was designed to be played with the Cube's nonstandard button configuration.
If Nintendo produces games that people enjoy playing, and they're making money, how is that failing?
This, of course, only gets me more excited about the Rev. Especially when you consider the possibilities for Katamari Damacy with that movable, tiltable controller. (Hey, it could happen... they're doing a DS port...)
"programs like winamp"?
How about "programs like MS Office" which since God knows when has come with its own separate widgetset? You see, those UI guidelines, those are for *other* programmers to follow.
Remember all those "15 years in the future" articles from C|Net or Wired that made reference to AOLTWMSNBC?
It was a sardonic joke in 2000...
Do they have a Handwavium doping process or what?
In light of recent victories in Eastasia, Big Brother increased chocolate rations to 20 grams per week.
I see someone else read Count Zero.
The bombes used in Bletchley Park were, strictly speaking, not general purpose computing devices. The first Turing-complete computing machine was ENIAC and it was used to calculate ballistic trajectories, not to crack codes.
Of course if you want to play fast 'n' loose with the definition of "computer" there were plenty of electromechanical calculators and *analog* devices which predate the enigma cracking effort by a fair amount. And don't get me started on Konrad Zuse...
It makes a lot more sense to have one menu for the whole program, and put it at the top of the screen where it is easily accessible with a flick of the mouse. Usability test after usability test has confirmed this, and Windows and Un*x have yet to catch up.
I'm not sure if this particular "matrix function" is going to be smiled upon by college linear algebra professors...
1. Publish news and articles on the Web.
2. ???
3. Profit!
Look for the little yellow fuzzy guy with black spots on his back, says "meh" a lot, reports to a shady sort of wrestleman character, sometimes answers to Ilko Skevüld.
You liked "Typing of the Dead" too? :)
I worry enough about people using replay attacks by recording the signal from my remote-unlock keychain; the last thing I need is a car that can be started remotely via ssh.q
It's close enough. Despite not currently working for Apple, Woz still touts Macs all the time. Wonder why?
They will do what Autodesk did: make their stuffs Windows only to take advantage of the faster Direct3D performance.
... if you've not been exposed to anything else.
After having seen the paradigms that drive the development of Mac and Linux, Microsoft's poor engineering and duplicitous business tactics become indefensible.
I'm not even willing to say that Linux or Mac is the best OS evar. Clearly there is ample room for improvement. But they *are* tolerable where Windows is not, if you're not the sort of person who has seen only Windows and so thinks "computers crash all the time".
Of course it's just normal griping by the expected percentage of always-disgruntled employees. We here at Yoyodyne value our employees, and try to create a flexible work environment that enables them to be more productive with less stress.
Now quit posting to Slashdot and get back to work. You've got a deadline coming up and it looks like you'll be working an 80-hour week to catch up. I suggest you get busy.