It's not even close. The average NASCAR team spends about $10M a year. Most of the X-prize teams are spending less than $1M total, with a few in the $1-2 M level. They could do some really cool shit for $10M a year, if they could find the right sponsors to give it to them.
Exactly. Unfortunately, I suspect the public and the press will concentrate on the negative aspects of "Coulda, woulda, shoulda"... but it can be a useful tool for putting together procedures and plans for the next time something like this happens.
NASA is already mostly privatized. Most of the work is done by contractors and by contracted aerospace corps. NASA primarily acts as a coordinator. I suspect that'll continue.
I love postmodernism. So many of our modern aesthetics are about defining things and telling people ahead of time what they are and what they mean. We decide what something is going to be, and then it automatically follows our expectations.
Postmodernism allows for chaos, and from within that chaos patterns emerge on their own. Postmodernism allows us to re-evaluate where we stand. Often we come to the same conclusions... but sometimes now.
And yes -- Burning Man is the ultimate postmodern experience. If you go with no expectations, the chaos that surrounds you eventually forms patterns that make sense. It's good that way.
This is a problem with the developer end. RPM allows you to say "requires x package, with y OR GREATER version". But many developers are putting in "requires x package, with y version".
It's not a fault in RPM itself, but in the usage of RPM. I'm wondiering if RPM's "auto-dependency generation" is at fault... haven't looked deeply enough myself. I just test my RPMs to be sure they aren't in that state.
And I agree -- it's been one of the most annoying things to me about installing using RPMS.
Used drinks at one.com. Started with lemondrop and cosmopolitan. It was fun when we got enough servers that we created sub-themes: java servers were orange juice-based. When we had to get some Windows servers we named them all after ghetto malt liquers. In our office, I started out naming printers after local bars.
... it really got out of hand, though, when I decided to name a new pair of servers "seven" and "andseven". There was rebellion at that point.:}
Not really. For a huge amount of time after Microsoft started giving away their browser with Windows, Netscape *still* had up to 70% of the market.
They lost it themselves by making a crappy browser.
No one really gives Microsoft the credit they deserve for their browser work, and how they got there. They had spent years developing a pretty good component-based software model (COM). And when they decided to do a browser, they drew on that talent and decided to make the browser a showpiece of "what you can do if you use COM".
The result? Nothing real special in v1, but after that new featurs and fixes flew out at an extremely rapid pace without much bloat. Score one for component software development practices!
On the other side of the competition, Netscape had a code-base that reputed to be the worst example of speghetti-code ever to exist. Of COURSE they couldn't keep up!
Any good graphics API out there today (and even back into the 90's) will let you define a canvas and then redefine it in virtual units. So you get the same thing just done a different way... the difference mainly become semantics.
Again -- innovative in its day, but most of the things learned from the Amiga of old have already been applied to other systems.
Is there anything Video Toaster (as an example of a 'killer app') on Amiga could do that Final Cut Pro 2 on the Mac can't?
Not saying don't try -- I'd love to see new innovative stuff from the platform. But I just don't hold much hope considering how much it's playing catch-up today.
Yeah -- I've given people IP numbers and netmasks before and asked them to figure out the first/last/etc... from that. Not everyone can do that off the top of their head, but you can see if they know their stuff by how they approach the problem. It's pretty obvious if the guy has done it before or not.
The other thing I do is ask some open-ended tech questions and see where they go with it. For example "I've got a new solaris 8 box that's going to be exposed on the Internet. What types of things do you do to secure it before we hook it up." Security is a process, not a product... so there's no set right answer. But you can tell how they think about securty by the things they do come up with.
> The problem is that no one has really found
> a way to turn the web into a truly money-
> making medium...
Hey, I've got an idea! Since we've found something that really annoys potential customers, and yet doesn't really make us much money, let's see if we can REALLY annoy our potential customers. If they don't pay much for annoyance, they'll SURELY pay a LOT for REAL annoyance!
Definate black-eye for Exodus. Working for an 'un-named' dot-com, we could ALWAYS get our TAM at Globalcenter to page and wake up their Cisco gurus if we really got stuck. Sure we'd pay a crapload for it, but they were there for us, and the experts on their staff could rebuild any config in a snap.
I'm really glad to hear about Cisco's support -- hadn't used it. I have had similar quality support from Extreme, F5, and most recently (and surprisingly) AT&T managed services. With AT&T, every time I call, the FIRST person I talk to logs onto our router to see what he can see, and fixes things quickly. I never have to work my way through tiers fo people who don't know what a network is, but can follow a script.
After dealing primarily with Sun's support (absoulte crap) for the past couple of years, it's been quite refreshing. Generally -- you buy big-ticket items (with everyone except Sun), you get good support.
I've seen the pilot, and it's surprisingly great! For only about 100k they managed to shoot a pretty darn good episode... even though my favorite character names are forever lost to Fox Kids....
> Except for our core group of supporters (5% or
> so of all registered members), people are almost
> definately opposed to paying for content online.
5% is an INCREDIBLE return... most non-net marketing efforts are considered highly successful at 1-2%
...so think of your initial site as a marketing campaign. Crunch the numbers and see if that 5% can really support you. You'll lose some of that 5% who won't REALLY pay, and you'll gain some of the 95% who will reluctantly pay. But if you can survive by charging that 5% you're in business.
Command names? Don't know. But there is precident. Remember that Sun's NIS was originally called Yellow Pages until the owner of the Yellow Pages trademark complained.
... but the complaint didn't chagne the command names, just the way it's referred to in documentation.
I believe Commando is still available for MPW (although I haven't used it in a couple of years). I imagine whatever the MPW equivalent on OS X is will have it too.
I agree -- it's a great way of having the best of both worlds.
The standard phrase is:
"Make the most expected thing happen automaticly, and make all things possible"
So what is desired 99% of the time should be the default and happen with no user input, but there should be hidden dialogs and options where the power user can tweak to their hearts content.
That's GUI-101 from the original Apple perspective. They've strayed, but most Mac GUI developers still operate under that principle. The key is to have every option under the sun available, but hidden where you don't have to see them if you don't want to do so.
IMHO, RTFM, ETC... these sorts of abrieviations didn't come from l33t d00dz who wanted to look cool on chatrooms. They came from people who used BBSs and USENET before most people knew what a network was. Those people (I was part of them) just wanted to communicate faster. They aren't used to be flashy or cool -- they're used to type faster.
Personally, I think the word 'the' is overused to the point of being cliche. You should find some other word to use in its place if you want to be fashionable.
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I'd do it! Hell of a lot better tailgate party than for college football.
(and instead of throwing the pigskin around after the BBQ, people are running around setting off model rockets...)
It's not even close. The average NASCAR team spends about $10M a year. Most of the X-prize teams are spending less than $1M total, with a few in the $1-2 M level. They could do some really cool shit for $10M a year, if they could find the right sponsors to give it to them.
Exactly. Unfortunately, I suspect the public and the press will concentrate on the negative aspects of "Coulda, woulda, shoulda"... but it can be a useful tool for putting together procedures and plans for the next time something like this happens.
NASA is already mostly privatized. Most of the work is done by contractors and by contracted aerospace corps. NASA primarily acts as a coordinator. I suspect that'll continue.
absolutely! Thanks for putting it so well.
I love postmodernism. So many of our modern aesthetics are about defining things and telling people ahead of time what they are and what they mean. We decide what something is going to be, and then it automatically follows our expectations.
Postmodernism allows for chaos, and from within that chaos patterns emerge on their own. Postmodernism allows us to re-evaluate where we stand. Often we come to the same conclusions... but sometimes now.
And yes -- Burning Man is the ultimate postmodern experience. If you go with no expectations, the chaos that surrounds you eventually forms patterns that make sense. It's good that way.
This is a problem with the developer end. RPM allows you to say "requires x package, with y OR GREATER version". But many developers are putting in "requires x package, with y version".
It's not a fault in RPM itself, but in the usage of RPM. I'm wondiering if RPM's "auto-dependency generation" is at fault... haven't looked deeply enough myself. I just test my RPMs to be sure they aren't in that state.
And I agree -- it's been one of the most annoying things to me about installing using RPMS.
Used drinks at one .com. Started with lemondrop and cosmopolitan. It was fun when we got enough servers that we created sub-themes: java servers were orange juice-based. When we had to get some Windows servers we named them all after ghetto malt liquers. In our office, I started out naming printers after local bars.
:}
... it really got out of hand, though, when I decided to name a new pair of servers "seven" and "andseven". There was rebellion at that point.
Not really. For a huge amount of time after Microsoft started giving away their browser with Windows, Netscape *still* had up to 70% of the market.
They lost it themselves by making a crappy browser.
No one really gives Microsoft the credit they deserve for their browser work, and how they got there. They had spent years developing a pretty good component-based software model (COM). And when they decided to do a browser, they drew on that talent and decided to make the browser a showpiece of "what you can do if you use COM".
The result? Nothing real special in v1, but after that new featurs and fixes flew out at an extremely rapid pace without much bloat. Score one for component software development practices!
On the other side of the competition, Netscape had a code-base that reputed to be the worst example of speghetti-code ever to exist. Of COURSE they couldn't keep up!
can you imagine a beowulf cluster fo these puppies!?!
(sorry -- had to do it. One of those Friday night things...)
OK -- but why?
Any good graphics API out there today (and even back into the 90's) will let you define a canvas and then redefine it in virtual units. So you get the same thing just done a different way... the difference mainly become semantics.
Again -- innovative in its day, but most of the things learned from the Amiga of old have already been applied to other systems.
Is there anything Video Toaster (as an example of a 'killer app') on Amiga could do that Final Cut Pro 2 on the Mac can't?
Not saying don't try -- I'd love to see new innovative stuff from the platform. But I just don't hold much hope considering how much it's playing catch-up today.
...
hmm... so if I were earthlink I'd have already started negotiations with cable companies to take over.
Yeah -- I've given people IP numbers and netmasks before and asked them to figure out the first/last/etc... from that. Not everyone can do that off the top of their head, but you can see if they know their stuff by how they approach the problem. It's pretty obvious if the guy has done it before or not.
The other thing I do is ask some open-ended tech questions and see where they go with it. For example "I've got a new solaris 8 box that's going to be exposed on the Internet. What types of things do you do to secure it before we hook it up." Security is a process, not a product... so there's no set right answer. But you can tell how they think about securty by the things they do come up with.
> The problem is that no one has really found > a way to turn the web into a truly money- > making medium... Hey, I've got an idea! Since we've found something that really annoys potential customers, and yet doesn't really make us much money, let's see if we can REALLY annoy our potential customers. If they don't pay much for annoyance, they'll SURELY pay a LOT for REAL annoyance!
Can't wait to start seeing ads for this start to pop up...
Definate black-eye for Exodus. Working for an 'un-named' dot-com, we could ALWAYS get our TAM at Globalcenter to page and wake up their Cisco gurus if we really got stuck. Sure we'd pay a crapload for it, but they were there for us, and the experts on their staff could rebuild any config in a snap.
I'm really glad to hear about Cisco's support -- hadn't used it. I have had similar quality support from Extreme, F5, and most recently (and surprisingly) AT&T managed services. With AT&T, every time I call, the FIRST person I talk to logs onto our router to see what he can see, and fixes things quickly. I never have to work my way through tiers fo people who don't know what a network is, but can follow a script.
After dealing primarily with Sun's support (absoulte crap) for the past couple of years, it's been quite refreshing. Generally -- you buy big-ticket items (with everyone except Sun), you get good support.
I've seen the pilot, and it's surprisingly great! For only about 100k they managed to shoot a pretty darn good episode... even though my favorite character names are forever lost to Fox Kids....
jim
(Uh-oh! It's Apocolypse Cow...)
Probably why he's using the desert in eastern Oregon. That covers more than half the state... if he crashes he'll create a big dust cloud. that's it.
> Except for our core group of supporters (5% or
> so of all registered members), people are almost
> definately opposed to paying for content online.
5% is an INCREDIBLE return... most non-net marketing efforts are considered highly successful at 1-2%
...so think of your initial site as a marketing campaign. Crunch the numbers and see if that 5% can really support you. You'll lose some of that 5% who won't REALLY pay, and you'll gain some of the 95% who will reluctantly pay. But if you can survive by charging that 5% you're in business.
Command names? Don't know. But there is precident. Remember that Sun's NIS was originally called Yellow Pages until the owner of the Yellow Pages trademark complained.
... but the complaint didn't chagne the command names, just the way it's referred to in documentation.
I believe Commando is still available for MPW (although I haven't used it in a couple of years). I imagine whatever the MPW equivalent on OS X is will have it too.
I agree -- it's a great way of having the best of both worlds.
The standard phrase is:
"Make the most expected thing happen automaticly, and make all things possible"
So what is desired 99% of the time should be the default and happen with no user input, but there should be hidden dialogs and options where the power user can tweak to their hearts content.
That's GUI-101 from the original Apple perspective. They've strayed, but most Mac GUI developers still operate under that principle. The key is to have every option under the sun available, but hidden where you don't have to see them if you don't want to do so.
For me a GUI at the very least lets me run multiple CLIs and see the progress in all of them at once.
You must be young.
IMHO, RTFM, ETC... these sorts of abrieviations didn't come from l33t d00dz who wanted to look cool on chatrooms. They came from people who used BBSs and USENET before most people knew what a network was. Those people (I was part of them) just wanted to communicate faster. They aren't used to be flashy or cool -- they're used to type faster.
Personally, I think the word 'the' is overused to the point of being cliche. You should find some other word to use in its place if you want to be fashionable.
... to say nothing of the word 'cliche'.
Hell -- I'd accept targeted marketing if we could just get rid of the UNTARGETED marketing!