Obviously the IDG interviewer was mistaken. Probably he meant Mozilla, not Opera.
I just reread the article and it's even worse on the third reading. The interviewer's questions were shallow and poorly researched and Andreessen was rather uninteresting.
He refused to comment on the question about the court settlement because his company is in bed with Microsoft. He didn't even catch the Open Software/Opera gaff. All in all it was a poor article, though it did spark some interesting discussion about browsers here.
It would however be real nice if the Opera folks opened up an API for opera-specific plug-ins. For example, so someone could implement a password manager a la Netscape/Mozilla.
Thanks for that great tip! One feature I can't live without however is control-G in Opera, switch to user style sheet. It's handy for instantly converting microscopic text or hideous colors to something plain and readable. Mozilla seems not to have such a feature except View->Use Style->Basic Page Style, which appears to be related to alternate style sheets at a web site, not user-defined styles. I do hope Mozilla has this or can get this feature soon.
Well, obviously they don't get millions of new users per month. Probably it's in the thousands.
Probably the main reason Opera has become popular recently is a couple of high profile news articles, e.g. USA Today, Time.com, and most especially the notorious MSN incident last fall when Opera accused Microsoft of locking their browser out of MSN, a fight which received international attention and greatly boosted general interest in Opera.
The browser was always aimed at mainstream users (what other kind are there?) but it's appealed to a kind of power user because of its many extra features such as keyboard shortcuts and tabbed browsing. These are not power features per se, just that sophisticated users tend to be early adopters of innovative products.
Contrast with Japan, where the per-kilometer cost of laying track is relatively high because of the mountainous terrain that is prevalent. So it's not much more expensive to lay fancy high tech track over cheap old fashioned track, or so I have read somewhere. Plus, it's a much denser population--120 million people or so, crowded into a land mass the size of California, so mass transit makes a lot of sense there.
That said, it would be magnicificent if the U.S. someday revamped its national railroad system and created a realistic alternative to air travel, not to mention creating hundreds of thousands of decent blue collar, administrative and engineering jobs, but the cost is probably prohibitive, unless another dot com boom comes along.
Well, you are a voter, yes? Write to your Congresspeeps and let'em know your feelings.
Building a national high speed rail system would cost not tens or even hundreds of billions, but probably **trillions** of dollars. Are you prepared to shell out an extra couple thousand a year to the IRS for the next 10 years or so?
It's not a lack of ambition; it's a lack of money.
First of all, it's a prototype. Secondly, it would hardly make sense to install a 200mph train as a university 2/3 mile shuttle.
According to a linked article at the bottom, the backers of this project consider maglevs cheaper and simpler to build and operate than conventional trains.
They believe that there is a market for what they called low-speed maglevs in universities, airports, and other places that require short distance people-moving. The Florida facility is working on increasing the speed.
This seems like sensible engineering; start small and build on one's experience, improving the technology incrementally.
There's a toilet in almost every building in the country. Mandate the installation of cellular network relays in toilets, powered by hydroelectricity possibly, and the tower problem is solved.
Just out of curiousity, will OS5 be more "compatible" with the variant Palm-compatibles such as Sony and Handera? Sony, with its MP3 extensions, for example, and Handera with its 240x320 display.
The high-res support would suggest that rewritten applications might be more likely to work on Handera. For example, Kodak's PalmPix, which doesn't work on Handera because of the non-standard display, might then become compatible across the board. Oh, joy!
China is a house of cards. The ruling party is becoming largely irrelevant; its ideology is extinct, its leaders ignorant of modern economics, and its control of the military and the provinces predicated on a need to defend the country from threats which have long since disappeared. The Soviet Union is no more, and the Russians can hardly afford to invade China at this point. The US annoys China vis-a-vis Taiwan and human rights, however, and yet the US is China's largest export market and among its largest source of foreign investment.
So, there's no clear enemy outside the country, a restive population that is just waiting for an excuse to get rid of Communism after what happened in the Cultural Rev., plus of course the barbaric acts of 6-4-89.
They are trying to retire their huge state factories, plunging thousands of people out of work and adding to the anger quotient.
They are allowing the most squalid, oppressive conditions to exist in said factories and in private enterprises, the kind of conditions Marx railed against.
There's a comedian (www.jimflorentine.com) who does a great mentally retarded voice and has a couple of tracks on his CDs that are quite amusing. Although he mimics a retarded person he is very clever and manages to keep the telemarketers on the line for many minutes. I wish I could think that fast.
On the other hand, since I started politely requesting "add us to your no-call list" the telemarketing in recent weeks has all but ceased, and good riddance.
He made a compelling statement. Something really obvious needed fixing and the responsible authorities were too clueless to fix it, so he fixed it for them.
If everyone had a constructive attitude like that, think what a society we'd have. People would automatically pick up trash, report suspicious behavior, finger dishonest colleagues or employers, and generally apply millions of little improvements to the status quo. Too bad most people are too selfish/alienated/cynical to care. It's inspiring to see someone who does care, and passionately, too.
Well, "extreme programming" is part hype and part common sense. The hype part is to educate management into the methods lots of people have been using for decades. Codifying it and giving it a sexy name helps legitimize these practices. Code reviews **are** useful sometimes as is pair programming, rigorous unit testing, etc., but this stuff has been happening all along with or without management approval.
Now if you're sitting next to your buddy, watching and commenting as he or she steps through some code, and your manager asks you why you're not at your own desk doing real work, you can explain that you're "pair programming" or code reviewing or what have you. Whatever. It's just a name for something everyone already does from time to time.
If you think the hype's a "load of crap" then I would tend to agree, but if it's the practice you object to, then you're obviously a rank beginner.
My friend it sounds like you're missing Taco Captain's point. You seem to feel the world owes you a decent job. This is not a criticism or putdown, just an observation.
Right now we're stuck in a very slow market with a glut of techies and those decent jobs just aren't out there, especially for people who are just working temp jobs, living paycheck to paycheck, and waiting for a good job to come along by chance. You have to go out and make your own opportunities now. While TC is perhaps a freer spirit than the average techie, the point is well taken. If you see a company that looks like it needs your services, spend 100 hours researching that company and its needs in today's market, then go in there and blow them away with your expert, spot analysis. Show them that they can't afford not to hire you. I know you're exhausted after a long day in the warehouse. No employer wants to hear excuses, though; they want to hear that you spent five hours every night doing your homework, building your skills, researching the market. Getting a great job requires a monumental effort.
The salad days are over. Now it's back to the old fashioned approach, unfortunately never taught to the current generation, of marketing your skills just like any other business would. I speak as one who is in a similar situation.
Hmm. When I say "office" it feels like my mouth is moving differently than when I say "off his". I pronounce the "h" (because I'm a North American English speaker). You would have to pronounce "office" as "offiz" to get closer. I think this should be correctly differentiated by a computer. However, I do wonder if a computer could correctly parse: "The sixth sick sheik's sixth's sheep's sick".
> Show me the Linux version, and I'll consider buying it.
I second that. I'm willing to pay for good products for Linux. I don't think we're the only ones out there, either. Part of my business is providing companies with a low-cost alternative to Windows/Office/Exchange networks but that does not preclude purchasing good software for a reasonable fee.
It's nice to see OSS moving to the mainstream, if only on a cable channel. The web site has a lot of reviews but doesn't really suggest a mainstream audience. Probably it would be mostly people who are power users of Windows or else programmers who already understand the significance of OSS. I hope it does signify a trend, though.
Anyone manufacturing music in Canada should have to pay this tax on the blanks they buy or manufacture. Fair is fair. How long would this law last if the big music companies suddenly had millions of $ of extra taxes to pay?
It seems like positive news to me. The 3/10 article you reference mentions a shift from massive retaliation to "smart" retaliation. Specifically:
Pentagon officials briefing reporters on the review in January indicated a lessening reliance on the massive stockpiles of nuclear weapons as a deterrent to attack. They said that findings called for increasing reliance on precision-guided weapons to deter attacks.
It seems to me that a new generation is in charge at the Pentagon, a post-WWII, Vietnam-scarred generation with a more realistic view of U.S. power. I'm glad to see them reappraising these 50-year-old strategies.
Don't forget the Handera 330, with great screen resolution, virtual graffiti area, two expansion slots, etc.
Also, the Kyocera phone/PalmOS unit, the Handspring Treo phone coming out in Feb. or March. And whatever else I'm forgetting.
In my case, as a software engineer and consultant, a Palm (actually, a Handera) is the way to go. When an expandable Treo comes out I'll probably get that. That CNET article is just a commentary, not a true comparison, and the writers ignored a number of facts in order to make their case sound stronger.
For example: Palm is easier and simpler; UI requires fewer taps to get stuff done; batteries last a lot longer; Palms are getting smaller and lighter while PPCs are still bricks.
How can you compare a $99 Palm M100 with a $500 iPaq? Obviously, they're completely different. It's like comparing a Honda Civic with a Mercedes SUV.
Slashdot Mirror
Obviously the IDG interviewer was mistaken. Probably he meant Mozilla, not Opera.
I just reread the article and it's even worse on the third reading. The interviewer's questions were shallow and poorly researched and Andreessen was rather uninteresting.
He refused to comment on the question about the court settlement because his company is in bed with Microsoft. He didn't even catch the Open Software/Opera gaff. All in all it was a poor article, though it did spark some interesting discussion about browsers here.
It would however be real nice if the Opera folks opened up an API for opera-specific plug-ins. For example, so someone could implement a password manager a la Netscape/Mozilla.
Thanks for that great tip! One feature I can't live without however is control-G in Opera, switch to user style sheet. It's handy for instantly converting microscopic text or hideous colors to something plain and readable. Mozilla seems not to have such a feature except View->Use Style->Basic Page Style, which appears to be related to alternate style sheets at a web site, not user-defined styles. I do hope Mozilla has this or can get this feature soon.
Well, obviously they don't get millions of new users per month. Probably it's in the thousands.
Probably the main reason Opera has become popular recently is a couple of high profile news articles, e.g. USA Today, Time.com, and most especially the notorious MSN incident last fall when Opera accused Microsoft of locking their browser out of MSN, a fight which received international attention and greatly boosted general interest in Opera.
The browser was always aimed at mainstream users (what other kind are there?) but it's appealed to a kind of power user because of its many extra features such as keyboard shortcuts and tabbed browsing. These are not power features per se, just that sophisticated users tend to be early adopters of innovative products.
Contrast with Japan, where the per-kilometer cost of laying track is relatively high because of the mountainous terrain that is prevalent. So it's not much more expensive to lay fancy high tech track over cheap old fashioned track, or so I have read somewhere. Plus, it's a much denser population--120 million people or so, crowded into a land mass the size of California, so mass transit makes a lot of sense there.
That said, it would be magnicificent if the U.S. someday revamped its national railroad system and created a realistic alternative to air travel, not to mention creating hundreds of thousands of decent blue collar, administrative and engineering jobs, but the cost is probably prohibitive, unless another dot com boom comes along.
Well, you are a voter, yes? Write to your Congresspeeps and let'em know your feelings.
Building a national high speed rail system would cost not tens or even hundreds of billions, but probably **trillions** of dollars. Are you prepared to shell out an extra couple thousand a year to the IRS for the next 10 years or so?
It's not a lack of ambition; it's a lack of money.
The answers are in the article ;-)
First of all, it's a prototype. Secondly, it would hardly make sense to install a 200mph train as a university 2/3 mile shuttle.
According to a linked article at the bottom, the backers of this project consider maglevs cheaper and simpler to build and operate than conventional trains.
They believe that there is a market for what they called low-speed maglevs in universities, airports, and other places that require short distance people-moving. The Florida facility is working on increasing the speed.
This seems like sensible engineering; start small and build on one's experience, improving the technology incrementally.
For a more ambitious project, check out the California Maglev Project.
There's a toilet in almost every building in the country. Mandate the installation of cellular network relays in toilets, powered by hydroelectricity possibly, and the tower problem is solved.
Well behaved applications should query for display size rather than make assumptions. Should be interesting to see what apps fail with OS5.
Just out of curiousity, will OS5 be more "compatible" with the variant Palm-compatibles such as Sony and Handera? Sony, with its MP3 extensions, for example, and Handera with its 240x320 display.
The high-res support would suggest that rewritten applications might be more likely to work on Handera. For example, Kodak's PalmPix, which doesn't work on Handera because of the non-standard display, might then become compatible across the board. Oh, joy!
China is a house of cards. The ruling party is becoming largely irrelevant; its ideology is extinct, its leaders ignorant of modern economics, and its control of the military and the provinces predicated on a need to defend the country from threats which have long since disappeared. The Soviet Union is no more, and the Russians can hardly afford to invade China at this point. The US annoys China vis-a-vis Taiwan and human rights, however, and yet the US is China's largest export market and among its largest source of foreign investment.
So, there's no clear enemy outside the country, a restive population that is just waiting for an excuse to get rid of Communism after what happened in the Cultural Rev., plus of course the barbaric acts of 6-4-89.
They are trying to retire their huge state factories, plunging thousands of people out of work and adding to the anger quotient.
They are allowing the most squalid, oppressive conditions to exist in said factories and in private enterprises, the kind of conditions Marx railed against.
Be interesting, these next 10 years.
Even sweeter is that you can access the quick preferences with F12 followed by accelerator key, e.g. F12 r to disable popups.
There's a comedian (www.jimflorentine.com) who does a great mentally retarded voice and has a couple of tracks on his CDs that are quite amusing. Although he mimics a retarded person he is very clever and manages to keep the telemarketers on the line for many minutes. I wish I could think that fast.
On the other hand, since I started politely requesting "add us to your no-call list" the telemarketing in recent weeks has all but ceased, and good riddance.
He made a compelling statement. Something really obvious needed fixing and the responsible authorities were too clueless to fix it, so he fixed it for them.
If everyone had a constructive attitude like that, think what a society we'd have. People would automatically pick up trash, report suspicious behavior, finger dishonest colleagues or employers, and generally apply millions of little improvements to the status quo. Too bad most people are too selfish/alienated/cynical to care. It's inspiring to see someone who does care, and passionately, too.
It sounds like you're joking/trolling. You can get new inkjet printers for less than $25? Kindly reveal your supplier.
Well, "extreme programming" is part hype and part common sense. The hype part is to educate management into the methods lots of people have been using for decades. Codifying it and giving it a sexy name helps legitimize these practices. Code reviews **are** useful sometimes as is pair programming, rigorous unit testing, etc., but this stuff has been happening all along with or without management approval.
Now if you're sitting next to your buddy, watching and commenting as he or she steps through some code, and your manager asks you why you're not at your own desk doing real work, you can explain that you're "pair programming" or code reviewing or what have you. Whatever. It's just a name for something everyone already does from time to time.
If you think the hype's a "load of crap" then I would tend to agree, but if it's the practice you object to, then you're obviously a rank beginner.
My friend it sounds like you're missing Taco Captain's point. You seem to feel the world owes you a decent job. This is not a criticism or putdown, just an observation.
Right now we're stuck in a very slow market with a glut of techies and those decent jobs just aren't out there, especially for people who are just working temp jobs, living paycheck to paycheck, and waiting for a good job to come along by chance. You have to go out and make your own opportunities now. While TC is perhaps a freer spirit than the average techie, the point is well taken. If you see a company that looks like it needs your services, spend 100 hours researching that company and its needs in today's market, then go in there and blow them away with your expert, spot analysis. Show them that they can't afford not to hire you. I know you're exhausted after a long day in the warehouse. No employer wants to hear excuses, though; they want to hear that you spent five hours every night doing your homework, building your skills, researching the market. Getting a great job requires a monumental effort.
The salad days are over. Now it's back to the old fashioned approach, unfortunately never taught to the current generation, of marketing your skills just like any other business would. I speak as one who is in a similar situation.
Good luck,
Terry
Hmm. When I say "office" it feels like my mouth is moving differently than when I say "off his". I pronounce the "h" (because I'm a North American English speaker). You would have to pronounce "office" as "offiz" to get closer. I think this should be correctly differentiated by a computer. However, I do wonder if a computer could correctly parse: "The sixth sick sheik's sixth's sheep's sick".
> Show me the Linux version, and I'll consider buying it.
I second that. I'm willing to pay for good products for Linux. I don't think we're the only ones out there, either. Part of my business is providing companies with a low-cost alternative to Windows/Office/Exchange networks but that does not preclude purchasing good software for a reasonable fee.
It's nice to see OSS moving to the mainstream, if only on a cable channel. The web site has a lot of reviews but doesn't really suggest a mainstream audience. Probably it would be mostly people who are power users of Windows or else programmers who already understand the significance of OSS. I hope it does signify a trend, though.
Anyone manufacturing music in Canada should have to pay this tax on the blanks they buy or manufacture. Fair is fair. How long would this law last if the big music companies suddenly had millions of $ of extra taxes to pay?
Because OGG is free and MP3 is a patented, licensed product. Anyway, good MP3 players can also play OGG (e.g. winamp, xmms)
Don't forget the Handera 330, with great screen resolution, virtual graffiti area, two expansion slots, etc.
Also, the Kyocera phone/PalmOS unit, the Handspring Treo phone coming out in Feb. or March. And whatever else I'm forgetting.
In my case, as a software engineer and consultant, a Palm (actually, a Handera) is the way to go. When an expandable Treo comes out I'll probably get that. That CNET article is just a commentary, not a true comparison, and the writers ignored a number of facts in order to make their case sound stronger.
For example: Palm is easier and simpler; UI requires fewer taps to get stuff done; batteries last a lot longer; Palms are getting smaller and lighter while PPCs are still bricks.
How can you compare a $99 Palm M100 with a $500 iPaq? Obviously, they're completely different. It's like comparing a Honda Civic with a Mercedes SUV.