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User: undulato

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  1. Developers, developers, developers on Satya Nadella: 'We Clearly Missed the Mobile Phone' (mashable.com) · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Microsoft misses because they don't engage developers - they said (Balmer famously said) it was all about developers but they really actually don't give a shit as long as the big corps still pay their licence fees. See XNA, see engagement over mobile, seeing the pathetic attempts at outreach with their bizspark programme. They do not care about providing an innovative, interesting and exciting platform for software developers to work on. It's a shame because I like Windows Phone as a platform but without spending a lot more money on developer engagement and support it was always going to fail.

  2. You can't on Ask Slashdot: How Can You Manage Developers Distributed Across Multiple Projects? · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Trust only comes through stability. Developers with nothing in common and different project managers sounds like a recipe for disaster and your role sounds like a potential nightmare.

  3. New jobs! on Zuckerberg To Give Away 99% of His Facebook Stock (bloomberg.com) · · Score: 1

    "The internet is so important that for every 10 people who gain internet access, about one person is lifted out of poverty and about one new job is created."

    In a call centre.

  4. Lovely on Normal Humans Effectively Excluded From Developing Software · · Score: 1

    Great to hear the rantings of other human beings *also* getting older and *also* temporarily unable to cope with the realities of it.

  5. xtank on X Window System Turns 30 Years Old · · Score: 1

    First time I saw it was on Sun 3s and Sun Sparcs I think in 1991 - might be too early for Sparcs? X11 blew me away right after I'd got used to terminal sessions - having a graphical interface and being able to send windows anywhere was just.. well.. futuristic. It still is. Played a lot of xtank, perpetually fiddled with the .XDefaults.

  6. ObPr0nFTW? on The Energy Saved By Ditching DVDs Could Power 200,000 Homes · · Score: 0

    Energy saved enables cataracts surgery

  7. Ban 'em on AWS Urges Devs To Scrub Secret Keys From GitHub · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If there is a direct link to be discerned from a Github user to an AWS stack then surely that user should simply be banned and then made to fix their crap before being allowed back on. Back in the 'old days' if the sysadmins on a system I was leasing time off could show that through my action or inaction one of their servers (even my virtual instance) was leaky they wouldn't flinch from shutting my crap down if I didn't comply straight away - and as far as I'm concerned they are quite within their rights to do it.

  8. Rediscover your joy on Ask Slashdot: Can an Old Programmer Learn New Tricks? · · Score: 2

    As others have said - find something you enjoy programming. I started making games for mobile a couple of years ago using Unity3D and Mono/C# - it ticks a lot of boxes for me, just enough coding, just enough creativity and other bits, just enough story telling. If you get bored of one bit you try another and eventually you get there. Plus you learn something about your target platforms along the way.

    Games or mobile might not be the way you rediscover your joy but there is bound to be some great tech out there that you just can't wait to get your teeth into. Word to the wise - Kinect and Leap are not it.

  9. The fact that the Kickstarter is now already over $2m after two days suggest that Mr Young or his business has hit on something. Obviously getting a load of big name stars to endorse the product helps not only Pono but themselves.

    So a few facts:

    • Neil Young has always been about the sound (if he's not feeling grumpy) - if you see him play live you can find out how live is supposed to sound
    • Everyone in the music business knows this and that's why they are on his video (aside from the fact they are going to get a slice of pie)
    • Using an open format for the store and having the player alongside is a great move - you're not locking anyone into anything
    • The PonoPlayer may be a pocket sized audiophile slab of genius however even if it doesn't work out it's going to start a hi-def sound revolution - equate it with the Rio PMP 300

    Pono wins either way - they have have access to the hi-def source and they start a hi-def revolution with the backing of all the big names. The fact that it's taken so long to get to market but has finally (almost) arrived with this kind of offering also suggests some serious thought has gone into the business and the business model - and now a couple of days in they are already justifying this. I'm impressed although I suspect that the apparent freedom and slickness of the marketing hides a deeper truth which will probably only come to light after the kickstarter finishes i.e. there are tentative deals in place to fold this in with more traditional offerings. Basically if you were iTunes would you like it if a lot of 'your' artists heavily promoting a rival service?

  10. When one door closes.. on Scientology's Fraud Conviction Upheld In France · · Score: 1
  11. "fourth most popular BitTorrent site" on IsoHunt Settles With MPAA, Will Shut Down And Pay Up to $110 Million · · Score: 1

    I think the release was remiss in not naming the other sites for *cough* comparison's sake..

  12. Self congratulatory piffle on Chemical Experts Begin Destroying Syria's Chemical Arsenal · · Score: 1

    Stopping people make and/or deploying chemical weapons = good. Destroying chemical weapon stockpiles after a well publicised atrocity and somehow selling it as a victory = disingenuous.

  13. Thanks for the spoilers, DOOFI on NASA Astronaut Talks "Gravity," Spacewalking, ISS · · Score: 1

    Great, I've been assiduously avoiding finding too much out about this movie so I can go and actually find out what happens at the cinema and you give the outline of the plot in the first sentence. Nice going editors, nice going EVERYONE.

  14. Agile on In Praise of Micromanagement · · Score: 1

    Agile is the perfect platform for establishing micromanagement. Break your tasks down into really small pieces, keep daily tabs on progress, make the team responsible for delivering it. They used to call them 'daily progress meetings' when a project had got on the deathmarch and now they just call them 'standups'.

  15. Yes on Changing a Single Gene Allows Mice To Live 20 Percent Longer · · Score: 1

    But are they 20% happier?

  16. Indie Kids on Microsoft Will Allow Indie Self-publishing, Debugging On Retail Xbox One · · Score: 1

    Well, there is no XNA any more but this is still good news for Indies and makes it an attractive platform whether there is additional developer support or not. And I'm sure there will be more announcements coming. When you compare the MS developer relationship to any of the other console producers they still have developer goodwill in the bank.

  17. Good decision Coxy on Alan Cox Exits Intel, Linux Development · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I quit Linux development 10 years ago and I never looked back. You get your life back. Hell perhaps you even *get* a life. Linux can be fun but it can also seriously bad for your health, wealth and fun factor.

  18. Cashflow? on David Braben Kickstarts an Elite Reboot · · Score: 1

    I played Elite on the BBC B back in the 80s and I loved it. Out of some misty eyed loyalty I will probably back this Kickstarter to some degree and look forward to a potential release. However I wonder how much of this money will be used as cashflow for Frontier Development Ltd and how much it is about Elite itself. The published accounts for last year don't make pretty reading. This might not of course tell the whole story but it might have some bearing on it - and they are certainly asking for a lot of money.

  19. Light Table on The IDE As a Bad Programming Language Enabler · · Score: 1

    Sounds like somebody is a shoe-in for a Light Table licence.

  20. Sourceforge problems.. on Malicious PhpMyAdmin Served From SourceForge Mirror · · Score: 3, Informative

    I think someone's head is in the clouds at the moment what with the recent buyout of sourceforge, slashdot et al. I'm with a big ol' (12 year) open source project on Sourceforge and it's going through the migration procedure currently to the new Sourceforge look and feel - lots of problems, lots of broken stuff, unhappy admins and developers and slow response to tickets.

    There are plenty of alternatives out here now for the open source types to host their code. It might be time to start thinking about exit strategies..

  21. Wow on Upgrading Software From 350 Million Miles Away · · Score: 5, Insightful

    NASA doing a software upgrade is not big news. This is going to be phenomenally safe. Much scarier doing software upgrades on millions of unknown hardware configurations globally than on one totally locked down platform no matter what distance or cost is involved.

  22. Great on Apple Reportedly Considering Huge Investment In Twitter · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now I'll _have_ on to Google plus..

  23. But I don't have any Open Source Employees! on Ask Slashdot: Open Source Employee Vacation-Day Tracking Software? · · Score: 1

    Arf.

  24. Depends where you go on Ask Slashdot: Jobs For Geeks In the Business/Financial World? · · Score: 2

    Different firms, different departments, can have wildly different needs. Some areas may need hot coding skills, low latency, high performance, networked and quick turnaround on changes. Some may need database work, configuration of 3rd party packages, integration with those packages and these might be turned around more slowly under strict change conditions. Some roles may be reporting based and hence have deadlines that simply cannot be broken because figures need to go to regulators or central banks. Most areas are steeped in red-tape, bureacracy and don't move as fast as they would like to. There's usually a lot of politics between departments and between teams - both internal and external as you'll be dealing with a whole stack of vendors most of the time. You'll be competing with some of the best coders and/or system admins and DBAs that money can buy and you'll need to keep an eye on what your customer wants whilst also making sure you're getting what you want - mainly that means managing your own career as everyone else is busy managing theirs..

    It can be a challenge, it can be devisive, it can be difficult, it can be fun. Depends what kind of a person you are and if you are able to thrive there. I have many friends who simply don't like it, have tried it and have walked away. I've been lucky enough to have worked in this world for a while and enjoy it thoroughly as you get to work with some bright people and can make it pretty much what you want if you're good. But yes, it's not for everyone.

  25. Re:An IPad and a Surface walk into a bar... on Microsoft Announces 'Surface' Tablet · · Score: 1

    If a guy walks into a bar with an IPad, there is a good chance he'll walk out with a hot chick on his arm.

    If a guy walks into a bar with an iPad there is a good chance he'll walk out without an iPad.