Although the same phones tend to be available in most countries, I have noticed that on average, americans tend to have older phones than europeans... If it's still the case, it may be because europeans get those same phones dirt-cheap. For example, I got a Sony-Ericsson T630 recently for 50 euros (about $45 ?). As far as I know, even that's expensive compared to other neighbouring European countries. Handset prices are subsidised by the mobile networks here.
On the other hand, americans tend to have much better laptops than we do. Those things are much more expensive in this part of the world.
Personally, I'd prefer an older phone, and a better laptop, but them's the breaks!
Providing a download of the game, and online charging for the key to play it? Sounds like a nice way to stop the age-old practice of charging different amounts in different countries. Hopefully it'll catch on, and publishers will have to stop milking us Europeans... It was cheaper for me to import Unreal Tournament 2004 (special edition) from the U.S., including courier delivery, than to buy it in a shop, and even cheaper than ordering it over the net from a European provider.
How can a language be un-cool? Could you call a hammer or a screwdriver "uncool"? And who'd listen to a guy wearing a beard, sandals, and white socks, getting red-in-the-face discussing the subtleties of static versus strongly-typed languages, deciding what's cool or uncool?
Programming languages exist to solve problems. Java happens to be among the best languages for mobile-phone apps (not the fastest, but very compatible), and scalable server-side apps. How can it be either cool or uncool? Personally, I wouldn't use Visual Basic to write production code, but I wouldn't call it uncool. It has its own niches.
Everything is broken into "baby steps" because at each of those steps, there are a number of ways to accomplish the next step, achieving a different level of efficiency, error handling, thread synchronisation, etc.
Think of reading from a file. A less verbose language (like C) would just say something like int h = fopen("myfile", "r")
Java might say something like:
BufferedReader r = new BufferedReader(new FileInputStream("myfile"));
Definitely longer. But probably less than the equivalent code in C if the C programmer had to do the same buffering of input from the file.
Java code in general is easier to maintain, since it's easier to read. Not a big issue for leet programmers, but a big issue for their employers who have to find somebody to maintain the code after they've jumped to another employer.
The java code also won't puke up a GPF if there's a runtime problem.
Synchronization is not a problem for C because the average C programmer writes single-threaded code, and it tends not to be server-side (and if it is, it tends to be CGI, which doesn't scale well. It's possible to run Java in from a CGI script too). Of course it is possible to write multithreaded apps in C, but then synchronization becomes a big issue too.
Server-side scalability means pooling, caches, lots of things that imply resource sharing. This means some form of synchronisation, whatever the implementation language.
Dell is quite clever about reducing noise. The midi-tower type ones often have no CPU fan, just a heatsink with a plastic enclosure leading to the external (large, quiet) fan.
And I'd guess (although I haven't checked) that their PSUs are as low-powered as possible, just enough to support what's in the case.
The terms forbit you to transmit information that may "give rise to a civil liability, or otherwise violate any applicable local, state, national or international law or (ii) encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to a civil liability, or otherwise violate any applicable local, state, national or international law"
And who are the "appropriate authorities"?
Does this mean that if you and your friend joke about how cool it would be to pirate a load of DVDs ("encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense"), recordings of your conversation can be sent to the MPAA (possibly the appropriate authorities, in their opinion)?
I'm sorry if my opinions are objectionable enough to offend you.
I picked the car analogy because when I get my car serviced, the charge I pay is mostly labour, little or no parts. If the mechanic was so inclined, he could provide it to me for free (or nearly so). I figured this is similar to a programmer spending his time writing software and providing it for free.
Your own point is also interesting, it really made me think.
When a free implementation of a particular product reaches a level where it's "very good", it commoditises that type of product. It makes it difficult for any new players to enter the market. Existing products may be fine, since they already have market penetration and brand-awareness.
How many new commercial J2EE appservers have we seen since JBoss became very good? Or how brave would a company have to be to implement/market a slightly better webserver than Apache?
There are certain employment opportunities for developers to work on free software, with big corporations (like IBM). However, these opportunities are limited, considering the size of the IT industry. I think there'd be better opportunities for developers if there were competing companies producing competing products, and the commercial barrier to enter the market (opensource is a major one) wasn't so high. We may see survival of the fittet, but the fittest would have great success.
Opensource is the exact opposite to a monopoly, but ironically can have the same effect on commercial competition.
Why is it that when I want my car serviced, I have to pay a mechanic, instead of just going to the Free Car Maintenance Foundation? Do you think the demand for mechanics would be just as strong if we could get our cars serviced for free? I'm sure there would still be a need for mechanics to customise cars or fix crash damage, but that wouldn't change the fact that a large number of mechanics would no longer be needed.
If there's one thing we should have learned from the dot-bomb era, it's that IT is not that different from any other industry. The type of thing that can harm other industries can also harm ours.
I think the whole open source movement is part of the cause.
What other industry would provide its services for free, then act surprised when that industry no longer generates enough money to justify lots of workers and high salaries?
In the long run, I suppose things are cyclical. The industry will shrink to a level small enough to support itself in a "free products" environment. This will probably lead to somewhat fewer people working on opensource products, thus increasing demand for IT people again... and so the sysle will continue.
By CSS, you mean style sheets? Useful for front-end work, but what about the other parts of a system? In any powerful system, won't there be some real program (maybe one written in Java?) producing that XML you're displaying?
Browse a few job sites, and do a search for "Java". I think it's safe to say that Java's not about to disappear for some time yet...
It's probably not so simple; as with any other internet-based activity, development, maninenance, and day-to-day running may be cheaper in other countries, irrespective of US laws.
Also, some countries have very favourable corporate tax laws, and laws relating to the profits from gambling. I'm not sure about the various laws across the US, but in some european countries we've seen gambling companies move their online operations offshore for tax reasons.
When a console first comes out, it tends to have a games experience on a par with the PC, but more fun on the bigger TV screen. However, about midway through its cycle (cycle=5 years?), the evolution of PC specs means the console games feel outdated.
So at the moment, I'm playing Far Cry and Unreal Tournament on the PC. When the PS3 comes out, I'm sure I'll find myself playing that more.
> Cell phones are a fact of life. If you don't like, move to Elbonia
Here in Elbonia, you wouldn't have to put up with these mobile "telephone devices". However, people here can be very rude in cineams and resturaunts, lighting camp fires to send smoke signals to their friends and family. I suppose it's their right though...
It seems that at the moment, spammers send mails to millions of possibly-active email addresses, in the hope that some of them are active. What's to stop a spammer making up possible addresses, querying SPF records for these (possible) addresses, and publishing the list of validated addresses? Can we now look forward:( to spammers using better address lists??
"Every audio CD, piece of software or DVD that is released these days is done so at a price that *takes into account* the fact that "x" number of copies of it will probably be pirated"
No, every such such product is priced according to the maximum that the market will bear. Hence region lockouts on DVDs, with vastly different prices in different regions. Consider; if, in Bangkok, 90% of copies of a particular CD are pirated, that does not lead the local CD distributor there to increase the price of CDs. In anything, it may lead to lower prices, because the market will not bear an inflated price.
Piracy has mixed effects. On the one hand, it helps to keep the movie/music/software industries on their toes, making sure that the consumer gets value for money, and that the product purchased is worth more to the consumer than a copy. (e.g. the recent trends to add more "extras" to movies/cds).
However, on the other hand, it has a negative effect on the marketplace for the industries. This can (probably does) lead to some problems. e.g. some smaller production companies closing due to lack of sales. For example, imagine a small software house producing an innovative new software package, but then closing due to lack of sales. The package is now not going to be developed any more, even though there maybe many users (some using illegal copies). So piracy can cause the consumer to lose as well.
I think the current system is probably self-sustaining, with a degree of piracy keeping industry from degrading value-for-money too much, and the laws keeping piracy from wiping out the industries. Piracy and the industry keep eachother in check. I suppose it's a bit like walking a tightrope...
I've implemented systems like that, using xml-based asynchronous messaging. A good Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) will do the job for you. Got to be careful though, lots of companies use these buzz-words to describe their existing synchronous products that they've been selling for years (not looking at anybody in particular, Oracle and BEA!)
You're dead right about the size overhead of XML not being a problem. But the problem with XML is the performance of the standard parsers. XML parsers need to understand namespaces, and all sorts of other things that are not really needed 95% of the time when you're the one defining the format of the XML document. So if the number of times that a document is parsed is kept to a minimum, things should be fine.
Re:Best examples of heresy I can think of
on
What You Can't Say
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· Score: 1
Because through its rules and laws, society encourages certain behaviours, and discourages other behaviours. If society penalises people who have children (or put themselves in a position where children are likely to result), then people will become less likely to have children. If society gives a helping hand to those who wish to have children, then it is likely that society will produce more children.
Many western societies are discovering that it is worthwhile encouraging people to have children. For example, if there is a drop in the number of births now, it means that in 20 or 30 years time there will be fewer taxpayers to pay for the running of the state, and for the pensions of todays workers. Yes, even in very right-wing countries, current pension contributions are used to pay the retired who contributed to the funds years ago.
Ultimately, all societies perform social engineering to some extent. Even in a country like the USA (I assume you're american?), there are times when elected leaders recognise that the narrow desires of corporate CEOs must take second place to the good (economic and social) of society. I don't mean "Communist good, capitalism bad", but rather that an extreme of either is not necessarily the best solution.
Right, I'm definitely not an economist, but I disagree -
A property's rental income does not have to match its mortgage repayments in order to be a good investment. If I pay 500 per month mortgage on a house, and take only 300 rent per month, that leaves me paying a nett 200 per month. By the end of the 10-year mortgage, I've payed 24,000 nett for a house that's worth 60,000. And that's not even taking house price appreciation into account (the figures are simplified, but you get the idea).
If the rental income exactly matches the mortgage payments, it means that the property costs me nothing. A free house! I know this is what property owners aim for, but it's not necessary in order to make property a good investment.
I had to look twice at the article, I couldn't believe it was written by IBM. I really don't like this guy's approach. I'd much rather store the values that were used to create the objects, rather than the objects themselves. Here's my reasoning:
1. It's quite likely that the objects will be much larger than the intiialisation parameters. For example, for a Font object on given JDK, the initialisation parameters are a string (name) and integer (size). The Font object created could potentially have all sorts of internal data structures.
2. Storing the parameters rather than the object will allow the user/admin to manually alter the preferences later. Think of the Windows registry. It's much easier to change an ASCII value than a binary object. It also becomes easier to examine/inspect the values. Never mind having a binary object spread over multiple binary preference values.
3. What about debugging the code for the application that created the preferences? Related to (2) above, I'd hate to be examining a dump of the binary objects, spread over multiple property values.
4. Dumping binary objects leads to a JVM-specific repository. Again, using the Font example, storing the name and size would produce two values that could be used on any other JVM to produce a valid font (at least I think Java still uses default font values if it can't find the requested one?). Whereas, dumping an actual Font object results in the storing of the specific implementation of the object used. This means that if the user upgrades their JVM to a more recent version (e.g. JDK1.3 to JDK1.4), all their previously stored preferences may be unreadable.
5. Realated to (4) above, it also makes reproducing bugs difficult. I.e. a user says "I hve this crash...". You can't ask for an export of the user's preferences, because they're specific to the JVM that user used. It's also impossible to tell, from a glance, exactly what those preferences even are.
I usually find IBM's articles extremely interesting, but I'm afraid I'm very disappointed with this one.
Slashdot Mirror
Although the same phones tend to be available in most countries, I have noticed that on average, americans tend to have older phones than europeans... If it's still the case, it may be because europeans get those same phones dirt-cheap. For example, I got a Sony-Ericsson T630 recently for 50 euros (about $45 ?). As far as I know, even that's expensive compared to other neighbouring European countries. Handset prices are subsidised by the mobile networks here.
On the other hand, americans tend to have much better laptops than we do. Those things are much more expensive in this part of the world.
Personally, I'd prefer an older phone, and a better laptop, but them's the breaks!
Providing a download of the game, and online charging for the key to play it? Sounds like a nice way to stop the age-old practice of charging different amounts in different countries. Hopefully it'll catch on, and publishers will have to stop milking us Europeans... It was cheaper for me to import Unreal Tournament 2004 (special edition) from the U.S., including courier delivery, than to buy it in a shop, and even cheaper than ordering it over the net from a European provider.
How can a language be un-cool? Could you call a hammer or a screwdriver "uncool"? And who'd listen to a guy wearing a beard, sandals, and white socks, getting red-in-the-face discussing the subtleties of static versus strongly-typed languages, deciding what's cool or uncool?
Programming languages exist to solve problems. Java happens to be among the best languages for mobile-phone apps (not the fastest, but very compatible), and scalable server-side apps. How can it be either cool or uncool? Personally, I wouldn't use Visual Basic to write production code, but I wouldn't call it uncool. It has its own niches.
Everything is broken into "baby steps" because at each of those steps, there are a number of ways to accomplish the next step, achieving a different level of efficiency, error handling, thread synchronisation, etc.
:
Think of reading from a file. A less verbose language (like C) would just say something like int h = fopen("myfile", "r")
Java might say something like
BufferedReader r = new BufferedReader(new FileInputStream("myfile"));
Definitely longer. But probably less than the equivalent code in C if the C programmer had to do the same buffering of input from the file.
Java code in general is easier to maintain, since it's easier to read. Not a big issue for leet programmers, but a big issue for their employers who have to find somebody to maintain the code after they've jumped to another employer.
The java code also won't puke up a GPF if there's a runtime problem.
Synchronization is not a problem for C because the average C programmer writes single-threaded code, and it tends not to be server-side (and if it is, it tends to be CGI, which doesn't scale well. It's possible to run Java in from a CGI script too). Of course it is possible to write multithreaded apps in C, but then synchronization becomes a big issue too.
Server-side scalability means pooling, caches, lots of things that imply resource sharing. This means some form of synchronisation, whatever the implementation language.
Dell is quite clever about reducing noise. The midi-tower type ones often have no CPU fan, just a heatsink with a plastic enclosure leading to the external (large, quiet) fan.
And I'd guess (although I haven't checked) that their PSUs are as low-powered as possible, just enough to support what's in the case.
The terms forbit you to transmit information that may "give rise to a civil liability, or otherwise violate any applicable local, state, national or international law or (ii) encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to a civil liability, or otherwise violate any applicable local, state, national or international law"
And who are the "appropriate authorities"?
Does this mean that if you and your friend joke about how cool it would be to pirate a load of DVDs ("encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense"), recordings of your conversation can be sent to the MPAA (possibly the appropriate authorities, in their opinion)?
I'm sorry if my opinions are objectionable enough to offend you.
I picked the car analogy because when I get my car serviced, the charge I pay is mostly labour, little or no parts. If the mechanic was so inclined, he could provide it to me for free (or nearly so). I figured this is similar to a programmer spending his time writing software and providing it for free.
Your own point is also interesting, it really made me think.
When a free implementation of a particular product reaches a level where it's "very good", it commoditises that type of product. It makes it difficult for any new players to enter the market. Existing products may be fine, since they already have market penetration and brand-awareness.
How many new commercial J2EE appservers have we seen since JBoss became very good? Or how brave would a company have to be to implement/market a slightly better webserver than Apache?
There are certain employment opportunities for developers to work on free software, with big corporations (like IBM). However, these opportunities are limited, considering the size of the IT industry. I think there'd be better opportunities for developers if there were competing companies producing competing products, and the commercial barrier to enter the market (opensource is a major one) wasn't so high. We may see survival of the fittet, but the fittest would have great success.
Opensource is the exact opposite to a monopoly, but ironically can have the same effect on commercial competition.
Why is it that when I want my car serviced, I have to pay a mechanic, instead of just going to the Free Car Maintenance Foundation? Do you think the demand for mechanics would be just as strong if we could get our cars serviced for free? I'm sure there would still be a need for mechanics to customise cars or fix crash damage, but that wouldn't change the fact that a large number of mechanics would no longer be needed.
If there's one thing we should have learned from the dot-bomb era, it's that IT is not that different from any other industry. The type of thing that can harm other industries can also harm ours.
Here goes the last of my karma...
I think the whole open source movement is part of the cause.
What other industry would provide its services for free, then act surprised when that industry no longer generates enough money to justify lots of workers and high salaries?
In the long run, I suppose things are cyclical. The industry will shrink to a level small enough to support itself in a "free products" environment. This will probably lead to somewhat fewer people working on opensource products, thus increasing demand for IT people again... and so the sysle will continue.
By CSS, you mean style sheets? Useful for front-end work, but what about the other parts of a system? In any powerful system, won't there be some real program (maybe one written in Java?) producing that XML you're displaying?
Browse a few job sites, and do a search for "Java". I think it's safe to say that Java's not about to disappear for some time yet...
This redefinition of standard terms can be made to work both ways...
I recommend that we hereby agree to redefine the term "crap" to mean "really rather good".
Now, feel free to feel to describe any hard-drive manufacturer's product as "crap", without fearing a lawsuit.
From "About GMail":
"Gmail is a free, search-based webmail service that includes 1,000 megabytes (1 gigabyte) of storage."
Has somebody been afflicted with "WesternDigitalitus"? Maybe they oughta google the word "gigabyte"...
It's probably not so simple; as with any other internet-based activity, development, maninenance, and day-to-day running may be cheaper in other countries, irrespective of US laws.
Also, some countries have very favourable corporate tax laws, and laws relating to the profits from gambling. I'm not sure about the various laws across the US, but in some european countries we've seen gambling companies move their online operations offshore for tax reasons.
I find my use of consoles and PCs is cyclical.
When a console first comes out, it tends to have a games experience on a par with the PC, but more fun on the bigger TV screen. However, about midway through its cycle (cycle=5 years?), the evolution of PC specs means the console games feel outdated.
So at the moment, I'm playing Far Cry and Unreal Tournament on the PC. When the PS3 comes out, I'm sure I'll find myself playing that more.
Not sure about Norway, but it was definitely banned in Ireland. In later years, the censors found their sense of humour, and the ban was lifted.
> Cell phones are a fact of life. If you don't like, move to Elbonia
Here in Elbonia, you wouldn't have to put up with these mobile "telephone devices". However, people here can be very rude in cineams and resturaunts, lighting camp fires to send smoke signals to their friends and family. I suppose it's their right though...
In the US, can somebody who is legally a child, be bound to a contract he/she has signed?
If not, then maybe he has a case? The offer that he made ($10,000) might not be taken seriously by the law if he had no power to make that contract??
It seems that at the moment, spammers send mails to millions of possibly-active email addresses, in the hope that some of them are active. What's to stop a spammer making up possible addresses, querying SPF records for these (possible) addresses, and publishing the list of validated addresses? Can we now look forward :( to spammers using better address lists??
"Every audio CD, piece of software or DVD that is released these days is done so at a price that *takes into account* the fact that "x" number of copies of it will probably be pirated"
No, every such such product is priced according to the maximum that the market will bear. Hence region lockouts on DVDs, with vastly different prices in different regions. Consider; if, in Bangkok, 90% of copies of a particular CD are pirated, that does not lead the local CD distributor there to increase the price of CDs. In anything, it may lead to lower prices, because the market will not bear an inflated price.
Piracy has mixed effects. On the one hand, it helps to keep the movie/music/software industries on their toes, making sure that the consumer gets value for money, and that the product purchased is worth more to the consumer than a copy. (e.g. the recent trends to add more "extras" to movies/cds).
However, on the other hand, it has a negative effect on the marketplace for the industries. This can (probably does) lead to some problems. e.g. some smaller production companies closing due to lack of sales. For example, imagine a small software house producing an innovative new software package, but then closing due to lack of sales. The package is now not going to be developed any more, even though there maybe many users (some using illegal copies). So piracy can cause the consumer to lose as well.
I think the current system is probably self-sustaining, with a degree of piracy keeping industry from degrading value-for-money too much, and the laws keeping piracy from wiping out the industries. Piracy and the industry keep eachother in check. I suppose it's a bit like walking a tightrope...
I've implemented systems like that, using xml-based asynchronous messaging. A good Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) will do the job for you. Got to be careful though, lots of companies use these buzz-words to describe their existing synchronous products that they've been selling for years (not looking at anybody in particular, Oracle and BEA!)
You're dead right about the size overhead of XML not being a problem. But the problem with XML is the performance of the standard parsers. XML parsers need to understand namespaces, and all sorts of other things that are not really needed 95% of the time when you're the one defining the format of the XML document. So if the number of times that a document is parsed is kept to a minimum, things should be fine.
Because through its rules and laws, society encourages certain behaviours, and discourages other behaviours. If society penalises people who have children (or put themselves in a position where children are likely to result), then people will become less likely to have children. If society gives a helping hand to those who wish to have children, then it is likely that society will produce more children.
Many western societies are discovering that it is worthwhile encouraging people to have children. For example, if there is a drop in the number of births now, it means that in 20 or 30 years time there will be fewer taxpayers to pay for the running of the state, and for the pensions of todays workers. Yes, even in very right-wing countries, current pension contributions are used to pay the retired who contributed to the funds years ago.
Ultimately, all societies perform social engineering to some extent. Even in a country like the USA (I assume you're american?), there are times when elected leaders recognise that the narrow desires of corporate CEOs must take second place to the good (economic and social) of society. I don't mean "Communist good, capitalism bad", but rather that an extreme of either is not necessarily the best solution.
Right, I'm definitely not an economist, but I disagree -
A property's rental income does not have to match its mortgage repayments in order to be a good investment. If I pay 500 per month mortgage on a house, and take only 300 rent per month, that leaves me paying a nett 200 per month. By the end of the 10-year mortgage, I've payed 24,000 nett for a house that's worth 60,000. And that's not even taking house price appreciation into account (the figures are simplified, but you get the idea).
If the rental income exactly matches the mortgage payments, it means that the property costs me nothing. A free house! I know this is what property owners aim for, but it's not necessary in order to make property a good investment.
I had to look twice at the article, I couldn't believe it was written by IBM. I really don't like this guy's approach. I'd much rather store the values that were used to create the objects, rather than the objects themselves. Here's my reasoning:
1. It's quite likely that the objects will be much larger than the intiialisation parameters. For example, for a Font object on given JDK, the initialisation parameters are a string (name) and integer (size). The Font object created could potentially have all sorts of internal data structures.
2. Storing the parameters rather than the object will allow the user/admin to manually alter the preferences later. Think of the Windows registry. It's much easier to change an ASCII value than a binary object. It also becomes easier to examine/inspect the values. Never mind having a binary object spread over multiple binary preference values.
3. What about debugging the code for the application that created the preferences? Related to (2) above, I'd hate to be examining a dump of the binary objects, spread over multiple property values.
4. Dumping binary objects leads to a JVM-specific repository. Again, using the Font example, storing the name and size would produce two values that could be used on any other JVM to produce a valid font (at least I think Java still uses default font values if it can't find the requested one?). Whereas, dumping an actual Font object results in the storing of the specific implementation of the object used. This means that if the user upgrades their JVM to a more recent version (e.g. JDK1.3 to JDK1.4), all their previously stored preferences may be unreadable.
5. Realated to (4) above, it also makes reproducing bugs difficult. I.e. a user says "I hve this crash...". You can't ask for an export of the user's preferences, because they're specific to the JVM that user used. It's also impossible to tell, from a glance, exactly what those preferences even are.
I usually find IBM's articles extremely interesting, but I'm afraid I'm very disappointed with this one.