First, your point about the Mayor's Prayer Breakfast is wrong. If I'm working for the Mayor, I may have to attend that meeting. Non-employees (political activists, for example) may also need to be at these types of events. Can I opt out? Sure, but I shouldn't have to do that to avoid religion.
To reiterate the point - Christianity is being "shoved" down everyone's throat in America. I'll cite one strong example of it. There are others, but this is a good simple example.
Read any recent newspaper - the Supreme Court is taking on a case to discuss whether "under God" should be part of the Pledge of Allegiance. Millions of people (many of them children) participate in pledge ceremonies everyday. Although these people aren't forced to say the pledge, not saying it, for whatever reason, doesn't keep Christianity from being foisted upon you. They still have to make the choice whether to say something inherently religious or not, and then, if they choose not, they have to deal with the consequences. It doesn't matter if the consequences are minor, the concern that there may be consequences is enough to make it wrong.
No one should have to choose whether or not to say something religious.
Just having to make a choice like this is one of many ways Christianity is pushed down American's throats everyday.
If you don't see the truth behind this, you're not looking at it honestly. It's not easy to realize that you are one of the people pushing your agenda on someone else, but you are one of those people.
You may think it's right, and that's fine, just don't pretend that something else is going on.
Is this is a book review, a synopsis, or a rant?
on
Everyone Else Must Fail
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
There are three paragraphs talking about the content and quality of book and the rest is a synopsis of the book.
Also, although the reviewer says that author "kept a neutral point of view" the reviewer ends with
If you're looking for a recipe how to piss off your customers, screw up your employees, alienate your partners this book is for you: it has a detailed description how to achieve all that based on Larry Ellison's extensive experience.
While the book may be neutral, this paragraph isn't.
IMO, it's pretty clear that the reviewer is more interested in making a statement about how s/he feels about Larry, using sections from the book to follow it up, than in reviewing the book.
Creative people seem to be among the most resistant to new technologies and/or meduims brought about by technology.
My point, which I believe my example illustrates, is that he's not resisting new technologies, he's choosing to limit his distractions and, by doing so, increase his production.
I totally agree that discipline can overcome the temptation, but the author of the essay has decided that he'd rather remove the temptation then try to deal with the distraction.
While what you say may be true, it's not in this case. Charlie Dickinson used many word processing tools and decided that they didn't work well for him not because he didn't want to embrace the technology, but because it distracted him from writing.
It doesn't matter what tool you use to write with whether it's a pencil, typewriter, vi, emacs, W*rd, or Framemaker, the important thing is that writing has to be the focus. That's what the essay is about.
To explain why, let me show you what often happens to writers when they are using a word processor.
type, type, type....
madly type because of good idea
type, type,
type
type
scratch head,
look out window at plane that just flew by,
scratch itchy bits,
change the radio station,
run a spell check,
look at broken fingernail,
pick at broken fingernail,
realize that the structure of the previous section would be easier to find later if the title was boldfaced,
decide a different font plus bold would be even better,
change the font in the body style to reflect new style choices,
panic when font change goes wrong,
flail about trying to fix it,
read help on how to fix it,
call help desk and chat with tech support because it's nice to talk with someone else when you're trying to avoid your work,
notice something else you can do from text in the help and add that formatting to your document,
etc.,
look at clock three hours later and realize you've
only written 500 words
panic and fill article with drivel to get it done by the deadline
See, the problem for writers, and for many other professions, including programmers, is that we have to work inside our heads and we need to focus on our thoughts. Distractions are our enemy, it keeps us from inspiration.
Is using vi the best choice? Not for most people, but if using vi allows you to focus on the writing and let the production people focus on the formatting, then that's the way to write.
Although there were initial improvements in traffic throughput, that was lost after the first month.
Buses were significantly negatively impacted.
So, if Seattle were to get rid of the HOV lanes, and the results from this study hold, instead of everyone except HOV vehicles (including buses) being stuck in bad traffic, what would happen is that everyone, including HOV vehicles, would be stuck in bad traffic.
You know, I've worked for Oracle for nearly five years now, and I have to tell you that I've never felt more supported as an employee at any job.
I was worried when I first started working for Oracle because I had, like so many others, heard it was a sweatshop, a pressure cooker, cut throat, etc. I've been very happily surprised to find that it's not the case, as least in my little corner of Oracle.
I get lots of training opportunities, I'm encouraged to volunteer in my community, and I'm encouraged to learn about new technologies. We are strongly encouraged to work as teams, with one another, not against each other.
When I was reading the information about PeopleSoft's people-friendly work environment all I could think was "Hey, that's almost as nice as where I work".
Am I held to high professional standards? Hell yes! I get paid to do a job, and I do it. However, I am also treated with great professionalism, as well as with kindness and respect.
I don't think anyone knows what will happen to the current PeopleSoft employees if Oracle is successful in acquiring the company. Oracle has never made an acquisition of this size before. However, it would take a very foolish management team to spend over $5B and throw away the real capitol of any software company - the employees. That certainly didn't happen when Oracle acquired TopLink. Were some TopLink folks let go? Of course they were, but the core team is still part of Oracle.
I've just started reading the book myself, so I can't tell you too much. My impression, though, is that the authors don't discuss specific tools or technologies (except XML), instead they focus on helping you understand what your needs are, then they give you help to deciding which tools and technologies will work for you based on those needs. That makes sense because what works for me and my needs probably won't work for you.
That said, there is a 100 page section titled "Tools and Technologies". It's split into six chapters
Evalutating tools
The role of XML
Authoring tools
Content management systems
Workflow systems
Delivery systems
It does not (unless I missed) discuss in those chapters specific tools, instead it talks about the types of each type of tool. For example, it lists 9 different types of content management systems
Web content management system (WCMS)
Transactional content management system (TCMS)
Integrated document management system (IDMS)
Publication content management system (PCMS)
Learning content management systems (LCMS)
Enterprise content management systems (ECM)
Knowledge Management Systems (KMS)
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Application server/development tools
Appendix C, titled "Vendors", is a 22 page list of various tools/vendors sorted by the type of tool, and by the category it fits into (for example, Documentum is a content management system that provides ECMS, IDMS, TCMS, and WCMS).
I did not see any Open Source tools included in that list.
Appendix D is a very detailed tool checklist to aid you in determining whether a tool is appropriate for your needs.
If you think nobody will pay for DRM controlled entertainment because they don't like it, you're wrong. We're already doing things we don't like to do so we can see movies.
Do you dislike watching trailers in the theater?
Do you dislike the fact that when you watch a DVD, you often can't skip opening sections on a disk?
Do you still go to the theater and rent/buy DVDs?
I have to answer yes to all those questions, and so do a lot of people. Why do you think DRM will be any different?
TurboTax is not too special, there are several other similar applications, as well as businesses, that will do your taxes. You don't like dealing with the DRM in TurboTax, you use some other service.
Only Warner Brothers will make the Matrix. If you don't like what Warner Brothers is doing with the Matrix and DRM, you're only choice is to get a copy of questionable legality (ripped, filmed in theater, etc.).
Microsoft is still working on how to implement this technology and what it will ultimately look like.
In other words, Microsoft is planning on doing something with window borders to make viewing sensitive date more secure. They're not sure what, and they're not sure how it will work, they're not sure when it will be ready, but by gum, they're going to have something someday!
I don't think anyone would dispute that the person that develops code shouldn't test it. The same is true for documentation, for some of the same reasons.
However, I agree, developers can, and should, contribute to helping users, especially through forums and blogs. Steve Muench does a great job on that at his website "Dive Into BC4J".
What you are really saying is that web browsers are becoming the GUI for the OS.
This is actually a big win for Linux, because most people consider the worst thing about Linux to be the GUI.
Will the GUI become more important than the OS? I doubt that, but the OS decision will change from a decision about the UI to a decision about the stability, cost, maintainability, and security. That makes Linux an easy choice over Windows.
You know, I'm sorry you went through something that has made you bitter, but your answer is a little too pat. "I know how to solve the problem of user assistance, but I'm not going to tell anybody".
Effective user assistance (a much more meaningful term, btw, than documentation - documentation is just one piece of user assistance along with user interface design, usability testing, hci, etc.) is a tough problem.
Many people have, and will continue, to spend their entire lives looking for the answer to the question "How do we help users effectively use our software tool to do the work they want or need to do?" It's not too difficult when you are dealing with a small, specific group of people (like the original users of Unix, for whom man pages were considered great UA), but when the audience gets larger and more diffused, effective user assistance becomes very difficult.
The problem is that almost everyone needs UA that has been personalized, and the creators of the UA cannot personalize the software for everyone. Why? Because I don't, and I can't, know what assistance you need. If I knew, I'd fix the program so you wouldn't have to ask the question.
As UA systems become more advanced, more things are possible, but giving perfect assistance to every user is, well, if not impossible, nearly so.
If you know the answer, I suggest that you create a company and market it, not to make money, but to help the millions of people that everyday fail to use their software tools effectively.
Slashdot Mirror
These look like great bags. Anyone know where to get them in the US?
First, your point about the Mayor's Prayer Breakfast is wrong. If I'm working for the Mayor, I may have to attend that meeting. Non-employees (political activists, for example) may also need to be at these types of events. Can I opt out? Sure, but I shouldn't have to do that to avoid religion.
To reiterate the point - Christianity is being "shoved" down everyone's throat in America. I'll cite one strong example of it. There are others, but this is a good simple example.
Read any recent newspaper - the Supreme Court is taking on a case to discuss whether "under God" should be part of the Pledge of Allegiance. Millions of people (many of them children) participate in pledge ceremonies everyday. Although these people aren't forced to say the pledge, not saying it, for whatever reason, doesn't keep Christianity from being foisted upon you. They still have to make the choice whether to say something inherently religious or not, and then, if they choose not, they have to deal with the consequences. It doesn't matter if the consequences are minor, the concern that there may be consequences is enough to make it wrong.
No one should have to choose whether or not to say something religious.
Just having to make a choice like this is one of many ways Christianity is pushed down American's throats everyday.
If you don't see the truth behind this, you're not looking at it honestly. It's not easy to realize that you are one of the people pushing your agenda on someone else, but you are one of those people.
You may think it's right, and that's fine, just don't pretend that something else is going on.
IMO, it's pretty clear that the reviewer is more interested in making a statement about how s/he feels about Larry, using sections from the book to follow it up, than in reviewing the book.
Just take a look at "Some Realism about Environmental Skepticism: Bjorn Lomborg's 'The Skeptical Environmentalist'" by DOUGLAS A. KYSAR.
Your initial thesis was, to quote:
My point, which I believe my example illustrates, is that he's not resisting new technologies, he's choosing to limit his distractions and, by doing so, increase his production.
I totally agree that discipline can overcome the temptation, but the author of the essay has decided that he'd rather remove the temptation then try to deal with the distraction.
While what you say may be true, it's not in this case. Charlie Dickinson used many word processing tools and decided that they didn't work well for him not because he didn't want to embrace the technology, but because it distracted him from writing.
It doesn't matter what tool you use to write with whether it's a pencil, typewriter, vi, emacs, W*rd, or Framemaker, the important thing is that writing has to be the focus. That's what the essay is about.
To explain why, let me show you what often happens to writers when they are using a word processor.
See, the problem for writers, and for many other professions, including programmers, is that we have to work inside our heads and we need to focus on our thoughts. Distractions are our enemy, it keeps us from inspiration.
Is using vi the best choice? Not for most people, but if using vi allows you to focus on the writing and let the production people focus on the formatting, then that's the way to write.
For Charlie Dickinson, vi lets him do that.
You can't be serious! Why would anyone want to work with MySQL when they can use Oracle's database?
There's a very interesting report on HOV lane effectiveness called Executive Report - Effects of Changing HOV Lane Occupancy Requirements: El Monte Busway Case Study where they did change the requirements for the HOV lane, and monitored the results.
Two things jumped out at me -
So, if Seattle were to get rid of the HOV lanes, and the results from this study hold, instead of everyone except HOV vehicles (including buses) being stuck in bad traffic, what would happen is that everyone, including HOV vehicles, would be stuck in bad traffic.
You know, I've worked for Oracle for nearly five years now, and I have to tell you that I've never felt more supported as an employee at any job.
I was worried when I first started working for Oracle because I had, like so many others, heard it was a sweatshop, a pressure cooker, cut throat, etc. I've been very happily surprised to find that it's not the case, as least in my little corner of Oracle.
I get lots of training opportunities, I'm encouraged to volunteer in my community, and I'm encouraged to learn about new technologies. We are strongly encouraged to work as teams, with one another, not against each other.
When I was reading the information about PeopleSoft's people-friendly work environment all I could think was "Hey, that's almost as nice as where I work".
Am I held to high professional standards? Hell yes! I get paid to do a job, and I do it. However, I am also treated with great professionalism, as well as with kindness and respect.
I don't think anyone knows what will happen to the current PeopleSoft employees if Oracle is successful in acquiring the company. Oracle has never made an acquisition of this size before. However, it would take a very foolish management team to spend over $5B and throw away the real capitol of any software company - the employees. That certainly didn't happen when Oracle acquired TopLink. Were some TopLink folks let go? Of course they were, but the core team is still part of Oracle.
I've just started reading the book myself, so I can't tell you too much. My impression, though, is that the authors don't discuss specific tools or technologies (except XML), instead they focus on helping you understand what your needs are, then they give you help to deciding which tools and technologies will work for you based on those needs. That makes sense because what works for me and my needs probably won't work for you.
That said, there is a 100 page section titled "Tools and Technologies". It's split into six chapters
It does not (unless I missed) discuss in those chapters specific tools, instead it talks about the types of each type of tool. For example, it lists 9 different types of content management systems
Appendix C, titled "Vendors", is a 22 page list of various tools/vendors sorted by the type of tool, and by the category it fits into (for example, Documentum is a content management system that provides ECMS, IDMS, TCMS, and WCMS).
I did not see any Open Source tools included in that list.
Appendix D is a very detailed tool checklist to aid you in determining whether a tool is appropriate for your needs.
If you think nobody will pay for DRM controlled entertainment because they don't like it, you're wrong. We're already doing things we don't like to do so we can see movies.
I have to answer yes to all those questions, and so do a lot of people. Why do you think DRM will be any different?
TurboTax is not too special, there are several other similar applications, as well as businesses, that will do your taxes. You don't like dealing with the DRM in TurboTax, you use some other service.
Only Warner Brothers will make the Matrix. If you don't like what Warner Brothers is doing with the Matrix and DRM, you're only choice is to get a copy of questionable legality (ripped, filmed in theater, etc.).
I don't think anyone would dispute that the person that develops code shouldn't test it. The same is true for documentation, for some of the same reasons.
However, I agree, developers can, and should, contribute to helping users, especially through forums and blogs. Steve Muench does a great job on that at his website "Dive Into BC4J".
BTW, the book being reviewed isn't really about writing documentation, it's about managing documentation projects, with some writing guidelines for creating modular docs. If you want a good book on writing high quality documentation for software, you should look at "How to Communicate Technical Information: A Handbook of Software and Hardware Documentation by Jonathan Price, Henry Korman"
Netcraft report says this: OS: NT4/Windows 98 Server: Microsoft-IIS/4.0 Last changed: 9 Nov 00 No wonder it's unable to handle enough request.
This is actually a big win for Linux, because most people consider the worst thing about Linux to be the GUI.
Will the GUI become more important than the OS? I doubt that, but the OS decision will change from a decision about the UI to a decision about the stability, cost, maintainability, and security. That makes Linux an easy choice over Windows.
Effective user assistance (a much more meaningful term, btw, than documentation - documentation is just one piece of user assistance along with user interface design, usability testing, hci, etc.) is a tough problem.
Many people have, and will continue, to spend their entire lives looking for the answer to the question "How do we help users effectively use our software tool to do the work they want or need to do?" It's not too difficult when you are dealing with a small, specific group of people (like the original users of Unix, for whom man pages were considered great UA), but when the audience gets larger and more diffused, effective user assistance becomes very difficult.
The problem is that almost everyone needs UA that has been personalized, and the creators of the UA cannot personalize the software for everyone. Why? Because I don't, and I can't, know what assistance you need. If I knew, I'd fix the program so you wouldn't have to ask the question.
As UA systems become more advanced, more things are possible, but giving perfect assistance to every user is, well, if not impossible, nearly so.
If you know the answer, I suggest that you create a company and market it, not to make money, but to help the millions of people that everyday fail to use their software tools effectively.
The Geeks in Space interview was pretty close to zero content.