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User: Jeff+Hornby

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Comments · 277

  1. Re:How gullible are you? on Trump Fires FBI Director James Comey (washingtonpost.com) · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Actually Comey is a long term member of the Republican party.

  2. Re:Price isn't everything on Ask Slashdot: What Is the 'Special Appeal' of Apple Products? · · Score: 1

    But you still haven't explained what you're optimizing by being on the Apple platform other than "happy". what is it about the Apple platform that makes you happy?

  3. Re:I can't wait on Microsoft To Launch At Least One Surface All-In-One PC Next Month (zdnet.com) · · Score: 1

    Really, that's odd: where I live they don't let strange people just wander in and out of offices because they want to "check out what computers you're using"

  4. I like my Surface on 'Gorilla Arm' Will Keep Touch Screens From Taking Over · · Score: 1

    So I've been using a Microsoft Surface as my primary machine (everything except software development) for almost two months now and I'm not having any problem with "gorilla arm". And I don't think most people will. The reason being that the only time that I need to touch the screen a lot is when I'm consuming content (reading blogs, watching videos, etc.) For that I ditch the keyboard and hold it like a tablet. When I'm creating things, i.e., e-mail, writing proposals and documentation, my hands don't really leave the keyboard very much. I'm typing this on my Surface and I'm not having any problems because there's no need to touch the screen when creating content.

  5. Re:Opinion on C/C++ Back On Top of the Programming Heap? · · Score: 1

    Citation? On Slashdot? Are you new here or something?

    Actually, I was talking to a C++ programmer who told me that she was seeing growth in the tablet area in her business.

  6. Re:Opinion on C/C++ Back On Top of the Programming Heap? · · Score: 1

    A lot of the growth in C++ is for tablets. As much as it is easier to write code in a garbage collected language, that garbage collection background process is constantly running, eating up battery life and cycles on lower powered ARM processors. C and C++ don't have all of that overhead.

  7. Re:There is a huge positive bias on Assessing Media Bias: Microsoft Vs. Everyone Else · · Score: 1

    But the real question is why did you buy a new TV? Was it because your old one wore out and it was time to replace it or was it because some advertising convinced you that without the new whiz-bang 1000000p display with 4D something-or-other you life would be a meaningless shell and you would never get laid and probably get cancer?

  8. Re:There is a huge positive bias on Assessing Media Bias: Microsoft Vs. Everyone Else · · Score: 3, Informative

    Of course Facebook (and Google) sell your information. The only difference between them and other companies that are gathering and selling information about you is that Facebook and Google are selling your information retail instead of wholesale. The information is still being used to do the same thing: target advertising at you to convince you to act in ways that you would not have otherwise and might well be detrimental to your own interests.

  9. We can write off Tennessee on Tennessee "Teaching the Controversy" Bill Becomes Law · · Score: 3, Interesting

    According to Wikipedia, Tennessee is 41st in median household income in the US. How long are they going to hold on to even that position when all of the educated people in the state (doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc.) start moving elsewhere so that their children will get a proper education? I think we can write off Tennessee for the near future.

    Maybe the AMA and various other professional bodies should start reviewing the status of education in Tennessee to see if a child educated in such a system will ever qualify for med school. I'm pretty sure that I don't want a doctor who doesn't understand basic biology

  10. Re:No, its still an expensive toy. on VisiCalc's Dan Bricklin On the Tablet Revolution · · Score: 1

    Actually, I would think that CAD/CAM would be a perfect use case for a touch screen. The iPad might be a little small for most people (although I know a kitchen designer who uses an iPad) but for really industrial uses how about a Microsoft Surface?

  11. Re:No, its still an expensive toy. on VisiCalc's Dan Bricklin On the Tablet Revolution · · Score: 2

    The assumption that tablets will outsell PCs within a decade is based on current growth rates remaining steady. That's a pretty big assumption.

    Because tablets are a relatively new device they are currently in a growth market phase of their life cycle. Once the market has reached a saturation point (and we don't know where that saturation point is), then it will enter the same type of market that PCs are in: where people are buying replacements when their old one wears out.

    Of course you might be right in that all you have to do with a tablet is hook it up to a keyboard and mouse (whether bluetooth or something else) and you've got a useful, but if that's the case why not just hook up your phone to a bluetooth keyboard, mouse and display and have something even more portable?

  12. Re:Please tell me why.... on Proposed Law Would Give DHS Power Over Privately Owned IT Infrastructure · · Score: 1

    But is getting rid of the problems in D.C. (assuming that it's not just another empty promise by a self proclaimed non-politician whose been in politics for 36 years) really worth the collateral damage that Ron Paul would do to the economy and foreign relations?

  13. Re:Pot, kettle, black on North Korea Threatens South Korea Over Christmas Lights · · Score: 1

    Actually, I'm from Canada and that chart makes us look pretty good.

  14. Re:Pot, kettle, black on North Korea Threatens South Korea Over Christmas Lights · · Score: 4, Funny

    Don't knock the Euro. It won't be long before those bills will be rare and valuable collector's items.

  15. Re:As long as it's all consensual on Big Brother In the Home Office · · Score: 1

    Actually, they're paying by the hour, so they want to make sure that the hour is productive.

  16. Can't be gamed? on Big Brother In the Home Office · · Score: 3, Informative

    And here on my other computer ... anything that I want

  17. Community on How Do I Get Back a Passion For Programming? · · Score: 1

    I don't know what it's like where you are or in whatever technology you work in, but when I was feeling like you are a few years ago I started getting involved in the local programmer community. There are a lot of user groups out there that get together, usually about once a month, to talk about technology. I've found that a couple nights out a month with motivated peers does wonders for my morale. The format of most of the meetings I've been to is a lecture by someone knowledgeable about a specific topic preceded and followed by opportunities to network. The later networking is usually done at a nearby pub.

    HINT: make sure to go to the pub afterwards: that's usually the best place to talk about whatever technology you're really passionate about.

  18. Re:So what? on Things That Turbo Pascal Is Smaller Than · · Score: 1

    But what you consider unnecessary might be vital to me. How do you decide what to cut?

  19. So what? on Things That Turbo Pascal Is Smaller Than · · Score: 2, Insightful

    First thing that comes to mind is: so what? This whole argument that smaller is better is crap. The reason that software is bigger these days is that it does more for you. How productive was the GUI for Turbo Pascal (it sucked), how good were the other tools that came with it (nonexistent), how fast were the release cycles (about the same as today). So with what people call bloat we get better tools that make us more productive thereby driving down the cost of software development.

    Or to put it another way: if you really don't like bloat, when are you going to trade in your car and start driving to work in a hot wheels?

  20. Re:How do we work this on Jobs Wanted To Destroy Android · · Score: 1

    More likely they'll invent Live Tiles, stealing the idea from the same place as Google did.

  21. Re:It is astounding .... on Steve Jobs Had a Liver Transplant Two Months Ago · · Score: 0, Troll

    So what about your right to be given air? Are you saying that I wouldn't be depriving you of your rights if I took away your right to breathe?

  22. Re:Caffeine is a drug that should be regulated. on Beware the Perils of Caffeine Withdrawal · · Score: 1

    By that logic, why do we have laws against cocaine and heroin? After all, only a weak-willed moron would become addicted to thse substances.

    And BTW, if you're giving coffee to children then child services shoulod be knocking on your door just as they would if you were giving cigarettes to your kids.

  23. Re:Following Apple on Microsoft To Open Retail Stores · · Score: 1

    You're assuming that Surface is supposed to replace a television. Most people don't gather around the television and interact with each other, they sit in front of it and mostly ignore each other. The whole point of the Surface is to get people interacting with each other. That's why the model is a horizontal table and not a vertical television set.

  24. Re:Following Apple on Microsoft To Open Retail Stores · · Score: 1

    So Apple has come out with a docking station that six to eight people can crowd around? Cool. I think I'll run down to the Apple Store right now and check it out. ...

    So the people at the Apple Store haven't heard anything about this Surface like docking station that you're talking about. Can I have some of your drugs?

  25. Re:Following Apple on Microsoft To Open Retail Stores · · Score: 1

    No.

    They're strategy is and always has been we don't mind losing a little bit of money in the short term in order to make a whole buttload of money in the long term.