Everyone knows that every other release of Windows is good
Looking for patterns that aren't there. You missed 3.11. Windows 95 was fine. 98 wasn't a substantial improvement. And as another person pointed out, you ignored the NT line entirely.
Do they actually work? A disproportionate number of people are deeply irritated by being disturbed by a recorded message. Only a small number are going to listen to the pitch.
I'd have thought the hatred caused by spam would essentially eliminate any benefit of those who don't mind and are willing to listen.
Even if Samsung did deliberately rip off Apple, it seems hard to prove.
This would appear to be the problem with minimalist design. If someone else does a minimalist design, it's likely to look similar. Something that largely resembles a picture frame.
I suspect most of the criminals don't know such a guy though. The main reason is because mobile phone theft fell, and the most obvious explanation is that it's because of this.
Most mobile phone theft is casual theft though. Rewriting the IMEI requires a certain level of investment (a computer) and presumably at least basic computer competency. You need to know what to do, and where to get the software.
Getting rid of the thieves without the skills or equipment does have a significant effect.
Didn't the BBC BASIC include an assembler? I'm sure I could just type assembler without loading any additional software apart from a small BASIC wrapper.
The BBC also did a nice dramatisation of the early days os home computers called Micro Men (apologies - no torrent link but I'm sure someone else will find one).
It's an indirect cause. Maybe iTunes would have done well without DRM, but because the record industry insisted, and Apple refused to licence their DRM, they had a monopoly on iPod music.
If you control the only online source for mainstream music for the most popular brand of digital music player, then surely you're going to do reasonably well.
Poor branding, marketing, and integration of PlaysForSure was another factor, but if everyone could have sold files for iPods right from the start, I can't imagine Apple getting a 70% market share against established online brands like Amazon.
Seems sensible but I have to wonder what the software actually copied, and I'm too lazy to actually find out. I'm assuming the software did more than simply move a cursor and draw a box.
And sometimes email is the most convenient medium. Maybe you could have some sort of shared feed, but if you want to send something to a single person, that's just email with the serial numbers filed off.
I don't think that's true. Your accounting software is not going to be popular when you overflow a 32 bit signed field you used for number of cents. In games you just prevent the number from getting that high. If your rounding error has a cumulative $10000 loss after several million transactions, that's serious stuff in accountancy. Who cares that things are slightly too low in a game? Add a fudge factor if it actually matters.
This is probably going to end up as a grandpa Simpson style ramble. The important thing was that I had an onion tied to my belt, which was the style at the time...
I can see a lot of reasons that Britain developed a software industry.
In the 1980's British schools were encouraged to buy computers. The BBC Micro - made by Acorn, sponsored by the BBC. These allowed kids to start programming immediately. BBC's BASIC had move/plot style drawing routines which allowed kids to create something easily. So some kids were taught to program by being given ainstructions to write a program to draw a square. Most kids followed the instructions, copied the programs but didn't learn anything. A computer program was seen as basically an incantation. The lessons made no attempt to encourage you to work out how to draw, say, a different shape. However, some of us did (or at least I did) see how this simple program could be made more interesting.
Most kids when I was growing up had a home computer. Acorn and Sinclair had both launched in their home territory first, and the major consoles (Sega Master System and NES) were released a couple of years later than in the US. This gave home computers a lot of time to establish a very strong niche. In my middle class area, everyone had a Commodore 64 or a 48K Spectrum by 1987. 8-bit home computers were amazing for experimental kids. You could turn them on and start programming immediately. and they were good for games!
I think as a result of these factors, those kids who were actually interested in computers had plenty of encouragement to learn. The option to program the thing was staring them in the face!
A lot of kids won't learn programming. It's hard work and they find it dull. School lessons on the subject do nothing to reduce this impression. Programming mainly appeals to those nerds who like pure logic puzzles. These ones will learn to program when they realise it's an option, but most of them will get into it largely by accident.
50 hours is a rare exception. 40 hours is the most I've worked in the last 6 months (Well, just over. I don't clock-watch).
Maybe 40 hours *is* the ideal amount of time for a "full time" work week, but what if it's not? What if 20 or 30 is better?
I think you make a good point. I did have a contract that was based on a 37 hour week, with a short day on Friday, and just those 3 hours made a difference! I don't think I was any less productive.
While these things can succeed on the backs of some philanthropic individuals, it's just human nature that to get a decent community, you need to benefit the supporters in some way.
Doesn't need to be any formal system. Free software, for example, seems to be based more on the honour system than anything else, but people do develop free software because there's something in it for them - software tailored to their needs. What is the incentive for being a search peer?
It's rather a shame for the IT guy who's out of work, but these are smart people who can get another job easily enough. Schools have never been a major part of IT employment. 15 years ago, most schools would have had all their IT handled by one of the teachers.
The money saved can and will be spent somewhere else. This will mean another aspect of these kids' education is improved. They might even produce another job.
We can't and shouldn't hold back technology to preserve jobs. That's extremely short sighted thinking.
I left the games industry because this long periods of 80 hour weeks were expected of us. I'm a freelance contractor earning more money and rarely doing more than 50 hours in a week. When I do extra hours then I charge for them.
Believe me, EA_Spouse's husband may have been working in one of the worst places but the basic problems are common throughout the industry. And the really bad thing - it doesn't work!
Cost of software is only one factor. 13000 Windows 7 licences probably didn't cost anything like retail price, and the developers are potentially cheaper.
Plus, the winning contract isn't always all about cost. User familiarity with Windows is an important factor.
Unless the joke was that it's meant to be nonsensical, in which case "whoosh" indeed, my objection was that the joke made no sense. "I did not commit theft" would have been a perfectly valid legal defence had he been charged with theft.
But then we end up making the strange argument that stealing is bad because people are deprived of their property, but stealing is not so bad because nobody loses anything.
My condolences, Joel, but maybe you should get yourself a real trial lawyer?
Why? If the RIAA prosecuted a copyright infringer for "theft", they'd lose. The case would be thrown out and the lawyers would be sanctioned for wasting the court's time.
If they prosecuted for copyright infringement, they'd have a much higher chance of success.
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Everyone knows that every other release of Windows is good
Looking for patterns that aren't there. You missed 3.11. Windows 95 was fine. 98 wasn't a substantial improvement. And as another person pointed out, you ignored the NT line entirely.
Do they actually work? A disproportionate number of people are deeply irritated by being disturbed by a recorded message. Only a small number are going to listen to the pitch.
I'd have thought the hatred caused by spam would essentially eliminate any benefit of those who don't mind and are willing to listen.
Even if Samsung did deliberately rip off Apple, it seems hard to prove.
This would appear to be the problem with minimalist design. If someone else does a minimalist design, it's likely to look similar. Something that largely resembles a picture frame.
I suspect most of the criminals don't know such a guy though. The main reason is because mobile phone theft fell, and the most obvious explanation is that it's because of this.
Most mobile phone theft is casual theft though. Rewriting the IMEI requires a certain level of investment (a computer) and presumably at least basic computer competency. You need to know what to do, and where to get the software.
Getting rid of the thieves without the skills or equipment does have a significant effect.
Google's policy has never been "do no evil" but "don't be evil.
It's a subtle difference, but Google's policy allows occasional "evil"
The runner still gets ticketed. All lights are red. The ones that are going to change to green simply wait a second or two before the change.
Didn't the BBC BASIC include an assembler? I'm sure I could just type assembler without loading any additional software apart from a small BASIC wrapper.
The BBC also did a nice dramatisation of the early days os home computers called Micro Men (apologies - no torrent link but I'm sure someone else will find one).
It's an indirect cause. Maybe iTunes would have done well without DRM, but because the record industry insisted, and Apple refused to licence their DRM, they had a monopoly on iPod music.
If you control the only online source for mainstream music for the most popular brand of digital music player, then surely you're going to do reasonably well.
Poor branding, marketing, and integration of PlaysForSure was another factor, but if everyone could have sold files for iPods right from the start, I can't imagine Apple getting a 70% market share against established online brands like Amazon.
Seems sensible but I have to wonder what the software actually copied, and I'm too lazy to actually find out. I'm assuming the software did more than simply move a cursor and draw a box.
20 a day are useful!
And sometimes email is the most convenient medium. Maybe you could have some sort of shared feed, but if you want to send something to a single person, that's just email with the serial numbers filed off.
I don't think that's true. Your accounting software is not going to be popular when you overflow a 32 bit signed field you used for number of cents. In games you just prevent the number from getting that high. If your rounding error has a cumulative $10000 loss after several million transactions, that's serious stuff in accountancy. Who cares that things are slightly too low in a game? Add a fudge factor if it actually matters.
This is probably going to end up as a grandpa Simpson style ramble. The important thing was that I had an onion tied to my belt, which was the style at the time...
I can see a lot of reasons that Britain developed a software industry.
In the 1980's British schools were encouraged to buy computers. The BBC Micro - made by Acorn, sponsored by the BBC. These allowed kids to start programming immediately. BBC's BASIC had move/plot style drawing routines which allowed kids to create something easily. So some kids were taught to program by being given ainstructions to write a program to draw a square. Most kids followed the instructions, copied the programs but didn't learn anything. A computer program was seen as basically an incantation. The lessons made no attempt to encourage you to work out how to draw, say, a different shape. However, some of us did (or at least I did) see how this simple program could be made more interesting.
Most kids when I was growing up had a home computer. Acorn and Sinclair had both launched in their home territory first, and the major consoles (Sega Master System and NES) were released a couple of years later than in the US. This gave home computers a lot of time to establish a very strong niche. In my middle class area, everyone had a Commodore 64 or a 48K Spectrum by 1987. 8-bit home computers were amazing for experimental kids. You could turn them on and start programming immediately. and they were good for games!
I think as a result of these factors, those kids who were actually interested in computers had plenty of encouragement to learn. The option to program the thing was staring them in the face!
A lot of kids won't learn programming. It's hard work and they find it dull. School lessons on the subject do nothing to reduce this impression. Programming mainly appeals to those nerds who like pure logic puzzles. These ones will learn to program when they realise it's an option, but most of them will get into it largely by accident.
50 hours is a rare exception. 40 hours is the most I've worked in the last 6 months (Well, just over. I don't clock-watch). Maybe 40 hours *is* the ideal amount of time for a "full time" work week, but what if it's not? What if 20 or 30 is better?
I think you make a good point. I did have a contract that was based on a 37 hour week, with a short day on Friday, and just those 3 hours made a difference! I don't think I was any less productive.
While these things can succeed on the backs of some philanthropic individuals, it's just human nature that to get a decent community, you need to benefit the supporters in some way.
Doesn't need to be any formal system. Free software, for example, seems to be based more on the honour system than anything else, but people do develop free software because there's something in it for them - software tailored to their needs. What is the incentive for being a search peer?
It's rather a shame for the IT guy who's out of work, but these are smart people who can get another job easily enough. Schools have never been a major part of IT employment. 15 years ago, most schools would have had all their IT handled by one of the teachers.
The money saved can and will be spent somewhere else. This will mean another aspect of these kids' education is improved. They might even produce another job.
We can't and shouldn't hold back technology to preserve jobs. That's extremely short sighted thinking.
I left the games industry because this long periods of 80 hour weeks were expected of us. I'm a freelance contractor earning more money and rarely doing more than 50 hours in a week. When I do extra hours then I charge for them.
Believe me, EA_Spouse's husband may have been working in one of the worst places but the basic problems are common throughout the industry. And the really bad thing - it doesn't work!
Cost of software is only one factor. 13000 Windows 7 licences probably didn't cost anything like retail price, and the developers are potentially cheaper.
Plus, the winning contract isn't always all about cost. User familiarity with Windows is an important factor.
Uncoupling was done using slip coaches
No real world implementation of coupling at speed, as far as I know.
This is less convenient for modern high speed trains since pairs of coaches share bogies.
He didn't though. He had a nice travellator system, but not really the same thing.
Plus this is really just a development of slip coaches.
I humbly accept your "whoosh". Except I was completely oblivious even to the whooshing sound.
Unless the joke was that it's meant to be nonsensical, in which case "whoosh" indeed, my objection was that the joke made no sense. "I did not commit theft" would have been a perfectly valid legal defence had he been charged with theft.
But then we end up making the strange argument that stealing is bad because people are deprived of their property, but stealing is not so bad because nobody loses anything.
My condolences, Joel, but maybe you should get yourself a real trial lawyer?
Why? If the RIAA prosecuted a copyright infringer for "theft", they'd lose. The case would be thrown out and the lawyers would be sanctioned for wasting the court's time.
If they prosecuted for copyright infringement, they'd have a much higher chance of success.