Many minorities are of a lower socio-economic class and are therefor not as employable.
Do you understand your own prejudice? By your logic, a person's intelligence, work ethic, and morals matter less than what class they belong to. My experience has been that there is not a strong correlation between the two. I would much rather have a smart broker who has my interests in mind than one who knows how to dress well and where the best place to have lunch is. I don't care if they're white trash or like rap.
I know that most of the women I have as friends certainly don't
I think I know why: No professional woman would want to spend any time around you.
Perhaps you feel you are simply representing "reality." That would be incorrect. Instead, you purport arbitrary prejudices as if they were logical rules by which people should be hired. I cannot imagine that these prejudices have served you well enough for you to serve them.
Our contention over office productivity suites has been rhetorical rather than logical. Our exchange in the last two posts should show you that you are not thinking rationally:
#1: I ask why Microsoft would change Office into a more integrated product like Gobe Productive if that model didn't offer advantages over the current separate apps linked by OLE in Microsoft Office.
#2: You respond that MS Office isn't perfect, but that Gobe should be the one working toward becoming a better product than Office.
Can't you see that Microsoft's very own course of action goes against what you're saying?
You seem to have very little technical understanding of the products we're discussing, but insist that your layman's argument is more pertinent than any consideration of programming design.
BTW, have you ever used Gobe Productive on any platform? If you are just arguing for arguments sake, please save us both from wasting time.
I don't get it. You're as defensive about being a Mac user as you are about Microsoft Office being a great product. Why do you have such investment in these products? I care very little for both, and I don't want other people to feel like they *should* care for either just because you do.
You have changed my mind on Office 2001, especially Outlook, however. You're right; they're crappy.
Your pedantic explanation of Gobe's ancestry is either a half-assed nitpick and/or a sure sign you've never programmed anything. Claris->Gobe shows the maturation of a concept. It's obvious the same people created both, and that was my point. Interestingly, Microsoft seems to be headed towards that same concept. Why would they change Office if it as perfect as you say?
The restaurant business has always been the harshest start-up environment. That bubble was nothing compared to the torture that is running a restaurant: No holidays or time off, cutthroat economics, and egos that make most CEOs look like Gandhi. And you opened this "restaurant" in the middle of a recession? Sure.
Oh, and _your_ girlfriend is a PhD, too, who also wrote her dissertation in Word--even the same page count. What a coincidence! Yet we have the exact opposite opinion of Microsoft Office. How can that be?
Where you really gave yourself away was by saying that everything in her dissertation "all worked perfectly" in Microsoft Word. Anyone who's used Word knows that something always gets fucked up.
You actually try to spread more FUD while arguing that you're not spreading FUD. I don't think you deserve to be let off the hook.
Why does Microsoft deserve any credit? Is it necessary? What would this credit entail? Actually purchasing the product?
I don't care if you're employed by Microsoft of not. As I said before, you might as well be. You have done nothing but put down free and open software in every exchange we've had. You don't seem to like the community or culture that predominates on Slashdot. Why are you here? Your posts cannot be construed as anything but astroturfing.
I honestly, sincerely do not like Office. However, in deference to your piercing psychological insinuation, I will admit that I think that Office Productivity Suites, in general, are a dilettantish crutch for lazy & stupid people. Still, Microsoft Office is for the most lazy & stupid.
*I* didn't say shit about how "Microsoft developed their products wrong." That was insac, who's absolutely right & stated it in a very civil manner. You responded to that post like a bully, so I gave you some shit for it. You ignored my points, and responded to me with a recrimination.
As for your insulting the work offered for free over on Freshmeat, I doubt either of us has used 90% of what's there, so your claim is groundless. In my actual experience, however, I can say that the best piece of software Microsoft has ever produced is inferior to at least 10% of the stuff on Freshmeat.
I'm not saying Microsoft is rotten to the core, I'm saying it's rotten *at* the core.
I can't believe you think the Windows user interface is awful. I thought that was what was good about Windows & Office. You should see the API.
Office has some good features. But that's like saying the US Government has some good features. You still can't avoid the preponderance of crappy features, poor implementation, and bugginess.
OK, so you're a chef, and your knowledge is limited to personal desktop computing. That's your context, correct?
I have spent my entire professional life putting together computer systems for schools and businesses, from DOS through XP; the original Mac OS through 10.2; on Solaris, *BSD, and now Linux. The frustration, disappointment, and EXPENSE that Windows+Office have caused has been described enough on the Net, in print, in business, and in court that even you should have a better understanding of it than you let on. That's the context of this story.
Perhaps you post obsessively to every thread, but you made it sound like you're a fucking expert on office productivity applications. Reading back through your posts is sickening. You wrote some long letters? LETTERS? Did Clippy help you?
My wife wrote her dissertation in Word because I couldn't simplify SGML enough (this was before XML). 300 pages in MSWord, and every footnote was fucked up in some way: on the wrong page, split across pages, any stupid thing possible. The automatic table of contents was a joke. If it was all kept in one.doc, it would take 10 minutes to open. TO OPEN!!!
I find this hilariously like the "Net of a million lies." Sure you're not lying, but ask yourself how many people really want to get their computer advice from a chef?
Your obstinate praise for Microsoft and rejection of any other conceivable opinion amounts to FUD. This article is about Gobe Productive, and tangentially about free software. When the entire point of all of your posts is to say that the only viable office suite is MS Office, the main effect is to create fear, uncertainty, and doubt in other Slashdotters (who may not know better).
I think Microsoft is planning on doing the same thing with Office as they did with IE. The fact that they haven't seems to have more to do with their inability to program well; anybody who's had to deal with COM or even OLE knows the bulky ugliness that is Windows+Office.
In my experience, MS Office is mediocre, at best, compared to Gobe Productive. Microsoft is working on a version of Office that incorporates all of the programs into one app. That is essentially what Gobe achieved after several iterations (Claris->Appleworks->Gobe). Apple tried this, too, but failed. Also, Gobe's spreadsheet program wouldn't zoom off wildly everytime the user tries to scroll down.
Actually, your opinion of Microsoft reminds me of my opinion of California: I bitch about it, but I've never lived anywhere else; and the truth is, I love it. My opinion on Microsoft is the exact opposite of my opinion on California.
Vinge would kick your ass for this kind of crap. Look here. Note at the bottom of the page how Professor Vinge does not teach Novell or Microsoft specific features? I guess he doesn't teach the "most popular product in the marketplace."
OK, your arguments make less & less sense, but you are really into this. Why?
"Monday-morning quarterback" is a an entirely irrelevant pejorative in this context. Next, your 'Might Makes It Right' argument is really unnecessary. Finally, saying "Microsoft *does* it wrong" is the *hard* way out, because then you have to find an alternative.
I don't know what your deal is, but you should ask yourself what your personal investment is in Microsoft Office. Does your livelihood depend upon your knowledge and preference for this product? Do you write Office macros for a living? If so, I can understand the psychological problem your facing: You have wasted large chunks of your life using mediocre products that you have no control over.
The _Fire Upon the Deep_ nick shows you're intelligent. Use it; quit defending Microsoft.
Oh, you're a Mac user. That explains a lot. I've never seen a group more willing to bend over and grab their ankles. I always thought you wished it was Steve Jobs banging your backside when it's really Bill Gates, but you seem to understand. Hmm, maybe it's the other way around?
In your defense, I will say that MacOS Office 2001 is far better than Windows Office 2000: No viruses, XP style interface w/o the huge resource suck. But then Office.X screwed up--WTF happened to Outlook, & what's this half-assed Outlook Express wannabe?
Also, you fail to mention ClarisWorks/AppleWorks, which is wierd. That's actually the predecessor to Gobe, so I would think you'd at least compare those two so as to be more on-topic.
You are far too convinced of your own opinion. Of course, people might read your argument & accept some of it based on your intensity, you reject everything out of hand. That's FUD, bud.
"I'm aware that some vendors bundle Office with their computers, but that's not the same thing at all."
Do you seriously believe this statement? The bundling is everything. Try this: s/Office/Windows/g
In my experience, Office is mediocre at best (especially Word, Access, and Outlook).
If you're not getting paid to astroturf, ask yourself, "Why am I not getting paid to astroturf?"
Maybe their interview question was too close to what the US government expects from people (I've noticed a trend of defensive military types responding), but there is no way in hell you'd get me to answer yes to that question.
I don't want to work for a big company in the military-industrial complex. So I work with small companies, some of which act terrifyingly like this one. I just want these people put in jail, or at least out-of-business, so that I can get on with business.
There are reasons why people get away with this shit, and you're blind cynicism is among them.
Very well said. NPR is derivative, too. But, at least they have solid journalistic principles. They call the right people and get them on the air. As opposed to a lot of media (Cable news, websites), which often put words into others' mouths via "commentary."
The Daily Show skewers this practice and so many others, and they won a Peabody for it!
Ariana Huffington lives in Los Angeles (Brentwood, I believe) and her offices occupy half a floor in a Santa Monica skyrise. If that's what you consider a freelance writer, then Salon needs an office in a major market.
If Salon fails, I won't miss Arianna's column, although she's one of the more moderate writers. But I would miss the great layout and navigation. Plus, Salon Premium does kick ass. Tons of mp3s of new music and literature. And all on a nice LAMP setup.
I became disheartened when the Salon webmaster crew felt they needed to learn Java to improve their future job prospects.:(
I was locked out because of their spidering filter, too. But I called up at like eight o'clock one night & someone unlocked it for me (& set it so that it wouldn't happen again).
Safari also has a very good search engine, althought it's wierd that they coded it in MS ASP.
The spidering filter seems intent on inhibiting the casual copier. I thought this was lame, but there's actually a certain logic to it. If you go to all the trouble to download & reassemble the books, then you've put enough work into it not to not just throw the book out there on Gnutella.
At it's most expensive, Safari books cost $2 per month. So I'm not impeding anyone's education, and I'd like to see this service stick around. In fact, I can save people a bundle if I get them to use it the way it's meant to be used.
The one lame thing is that OReilly pads their selection with multiple editions of the same book and also with books that are available for free on the openbook site--ok, that's like five books, but still... They're really starting to get a good selection now.
In college, I used a free (as in stolen beer) html copy of a textbook for a class, and realized at the end of the year that someone had purposefully altered the book so that a lot of information was horribly incorrect. They'd basically cut out the word "not" all through the book, and inserted it after "is" in other places. Most people would not do that, but some a-hole did. Ah, college, what a hellhole.
I repeat, FedEx and UPS should not exist. Or they should always be on the verge of bankruptcy, cowering and resorting to useless lawsuits against that titan of paper-based correspondence, the almighty United States Post Office. There can be nothing worse than a government-sponsored monopoly, as there can be nothing worse than government. Ayn Rand said so. BTW, that egomaniac charlatan Alan Greenspan needs to be flogged on his naked fanny for daring to intervene in the free market. Down with the USPS! Death to Alan Greenspan!
Based on what? Just curious. I find four numbers easier to remember, especially with the combined use of tens + hundreds (eg. fifteen hundred, 23 hundred and 35). Or are you just joking?
Uh? How is that statement not ironic? I don't want to get in an American Heritage vs. Webster's argument here, but it could only be described as ironic if your hard drive fails _while_ you're backing it up. What other word is appropriate there?
The problem with Alanis Morissette's song was that she gave lame examples of irony. It's not really ironic for it to rain on your wedding day because there is not a strong enough correllation between the event and the weather. It would be ironic if I loved rain and it rained on my wedding day. 'A black fly in your chardonnay' is weakly ironic because of the incongruity of the 'classiness' of the drink and the 'dirtiness' of the fly--but it's overly contrived and needs more context. Someone with a fear of flying finally getting on a plane that crashes is ironic, but it's also cynical. Ironic means that there are multiple, disparate, but related meanings associated with a statement or scenario (as opposed to sarcasm, which is when something is said when the opposite is meant). So it is ironic that the harddrive crashes while backing up, since the intent of backing up the harddrive was to save the data in case the drive ever crashed--especially given that the poster now gets to read about how the drive is known for failure. Then again, it sounds like a troll.
But in trying to be witty and sarcastic, you end up, ironically, sounding like a dense jerk.
In my experience, MacPerl has been a major part of keeping Apple machines viable for serious computing (without running Linux). I know several people who worked at NASA, and they lived by MacPerl. I don't know what percentage of users currently run =10, but I'd imagine the majority run the former. So, in summation, MacPerl is a great benefit to both the MacOS and Perl communities. Thank you.
Your vision sounds great, but so does Perl6. My friends and I have had fun talking about CLI, but I doubt managed C++ can regain multiple inheritance, or that functional languages will work efficiently. And you must know that many people at Microsoft have expressed very different views than your's on how.NET is going to work.
Then again, you could be the James Duncan Davidson of Microsoft. Programmers need reassurance that they aren't being led into a concentration camp (in the Woody Allen sense). Sun's half-hearted attempts at involving the community with Java failed to produce what you hope for with CLI, despite attempts like Kawa and Jython. I'm loath to see that repeated, and will remain wary until licensing & platform equivalency issues are resolved.
Especially since MS was partly responsible for that. A friend of mine once e-mailed me excitedly about a new version of Java called J++. It took us a while to figure out that it was just a compiler.
Anyway, I wonder how this will affect the *BSD IS DYING posts?
"In a world, bullshit" Is this a Freudian slip? Janeane Garafalo parodies movie previews by just saying "In a world..." very ominously (like "In a world without justice, one man offered hope" or "In a world full of MS FUD, Ayende Rahien posts way too much").
I've read your posts. I don't know what you're game is, but it rarely makes much sense. Try fewer posts, higher quality.
The majority of languages today are C-based. There isn't much difference between C++ and C# and Java.
99% of the tasks we do are trivial. When we want to do something more, we fail because the languages don't offer any more.
C incorporating assembly and CLI running unsafe code are examples of language flexibility? C# + CLI is another incremental step in moving beyond C, and it's got all kinds of crap associated with it (Hailstorm, Passport).
Slashdot Mirror
Do you understand your own prejudice? By your logic, a person's intelligence, work ethic, and morals matter less than what class they belong to. My experience has been that there is not a strong correlation between the two. I would much rather have a smart broker who has my interests in mind than one who knows how to dress well and where the best place to have lunch is. I don't care if they're white trash or like rap.
I know that most of the women I have as friends certainly don'tI think I know why: No professional woman would want to spend any time around you.
Perhaps you feel you are simply representing "reality." That would be incorrect. Instead, you purport arbitrary prejudices as if they were logical rules by which people should be hired. I cannot imagine that these prejudices have served you well enough for you to serve them.
Our contention over office productivity suites has been rhetorical rather than logical. Our exchange in the last two posts should show you that you are not thinking rationally:
#1: I ask why Microsoft would change Office into a more integrated product like Gobe Productive if that model didn't offer advantages over the current separate apps linked by OLE in Microsoft Office.
#2: You respond that MS Office isn't perfect, but that Gobe should be the one working toward becoming a better product than Office.
Can't you see that Microsoft's very own course of action goes against what you're saying?
You seem to have very little technical understanding of the products we're discussing, but insist that your layman's argument is more pertinent than any consideration of programming design.
BTW, have you ever used Gobe Productive on any platform? If you are just arguing for arguments sake, please save us both from wasting time.
I don't get it. You're as defensive about being a Mac user as you are about Microsoft Office being a great product. Why do you have such investment in these products? I care very little for both, and I don't want other people to feel like they *should* care for either just because you do.
You have changed my mind on Office 2001, especially Outlook, however. You're right; they're crappy.
Your pedantic explanation of Gobe's ancestry is either a half-assed nitpick and/or a sure sign you've never programmed anything. Claris->Gobe shows the maturation of a concept. It's obvious the same people created both, and that was my point. Interestingly, Microsoft seems to be headed towards that same concept. Why would they change Office if it as perfect as you say?
You're either lying or stupid.
The restaurant business has always been the harshest start-up environment. That bubble was nothing compared to the torture that is running a restaurant: No holidays or time off, cutthroat economics, and egos that make most CEOs look like Gandhi. And you opened this "restaurant" in the middle of a recession? Sure.
Oh, and _your_ girlfriend is a PhD, too, who also wrote her dissertation in Word--even the same page count. What a coincidence! Yet we have the exact opposite opinion of Microsoft Office. How can that be?
Where you really gave yourself away was by saying that everything in her dissertation "all worked perfectly" in Microsoft Word. Anyone who's used Word knows that something always gets fucked up.
You actually try to spread more FUD while arguing that you're not spreading FUD. I don't think you deserve to be let off the hook.
Why does Microsoft deserve any credit? Is it necessary? What would this credit entail? Actually purchasing the product?
I don't care if you're employed by Microsoft of not. As I said before, you might as well be. You have done nothing but put down free and open software in every exchange we've had. You don't seem to like the community or culture that predominates on Slashdot. Why are you here? Your posts cannot be construed as anything but astroturfing.
I honestly, sincerely do not like Office. However, in deference to your piercing psychological insinuation, I will admit that I think that Office Productivity Suites, in general, are a dilettantish crutch for lazy & stupid people. Still, Microsoft Office is for the most lazy & stupid.
*I* didn't say shit about how "Microsoft developed their products wrong." That was insac, who's absolutely right & stated it in a very civil manner. You responded to that post like a bully, so I gave you some shit for it. You ignored my points, and responded to me with a recrimination.
As for your insulting the work offered for free over on Freshmeat, I doubt either of us has used 90% of what's there, so your claim is groundless. In my actual experience, however, I can say that the best piece of software Microsoft has ever produced is inferior to at least 10% of the stuff on Freshmeat.
I'm not saying Microsoft is rotten to the core, I'm saying it's rotten *at* the core.
I can't believe you think the Windows user interface is awful. I thought that was what was good about Windows & Office. You should see the API.
Office has some good features. But that's like saying the US Government has some good features. You still can't avoid the preponderance of crappy features, poor implementation, and bugginess.
OK, so you're a chef, and your knowledge is limited to personal desktop computing. That's your context, correct?
.doc, it would take 10 minutes to open. TO OPEN!!!
I have spent my entire professional life putting together computer systems for schools and businesses, from DOS through XP; the original Mac OS through 10.2; on Solaris, *BSD, and now Linux. The frustration, disappointment, and EXPENSE that Windows+Office have caused has been described enough on the Net, in print, in business, and in court that even you should have a better understanding of it than you let on. That's the context of this story.
Perhaps you post obsessively to every thread, but you made it sound like you're a fucking expert on office productivity applications. Reading back through your posts is sickening. You wrote some long letters? LETTERS? Did Clippy help you?
My wife wrote her dissertation in Word because I couldn't simplify SGML enough (this was before XML). 300 pages in MSWord, and every footnote was fucked up in some way: on the wrong page, split across pages, any stupid thing possible. The automatic table of contents was a joke. If it was all kept in one
I find this hilariously like the "Net of a million lies." Sure you're not lying, but ask yourself how many people really want to get their computer advice from a chef?
Your obstinate praise for Microsoft and rejection of any other conceivable opinion amounts to FUD. This article is about Gobe Productive, and tangentially about free software. When the entire point of all of your posts is to say that the only viable office suite is MS Office, the main effect is to create fear, uncertainty, and doubt in other Slashdotters (who may not know better).
I think Microsoft is planning on doing the same thing with Office as they did with IE. The fact that they haven't seems to have more to do with their inability to program well; anybody who's had to deal with COM or even OLE knows the bulky ugliness that is Windows+Office.
In my experience, MS Office is mediocre, at best, compared to Gobe Productive. Microsoft is working on a version of Office that incorporates all of the programs into one app. That is essentially what Gobe achieved after several iterations (Claris->Appleworks->Gobe). Apple tried this, too, but failed. Also, Gobe's spreadsheet program wouldn't zoom off wildly everytime the user tries to scroll down.
Actually, your opinion of Microsoft reminds me of my opinion of California: I bitch about it, but I've never lived anywhere else; and the truth is, I love it. My opinion on Microsoft is the exact opposite of my opinion on California.
Vinge would kick your ass for this kind of crap. Look here. Note at the bottom of the page how Professor Vinge does not teach Novell or Microsoft specific features? I guess he doesn't teach the "most popular product in the marketplace."
OK, your arguments make less & less sense, but you are really into this. Why?
"Monday-morning quarterback" is a an entirely irrelevant pejorative in this context. Next, your 'Might Makes It Right' argument is really unnecessary. Finally, saying "Microsoft *does* it wrong" is the *hard* way out, because then you have to find an alternative.
I don't know what your deal is, but you should ask yourself what your personal investment is in Microsoft Office. Does your livelihood depend upon your knowledge and preference for this product? Do you write Office macros for a living? If so, I can understand the psychological problem your facing: You have wasted large chunks of your life using mediocre products that you have no control over.
The _Fire Upon the Deep_ nick shows you're intelligent. Use it; quit defending Microsoft.
Oh, you're a Mac user. That explains a lot. I've never seen a group more willing to bend over and grab their ankles. I always thought you wished it was Steve Jobs banging your backside when it's really Bill Gates, but you seem to understand. Hmm, maybe it's the other way around?
In your defense, I will say that MacOS Office 2001 is far better than Windows Office 2000: No viruses, XP style interface w/o the huge resource suck. But then Office.X screwed up--WTF happened to Outlook, & what's this half-assed Outlook Express wannabe?
Also, you fail to mention ClarisWorks/AppleWorks, which is wierd. That's actually the predecessor to Gobe, so I would think you'd at least compare those two so as to be more on-topic.
You are far too convinced of your own opinion. Of course, people might read your argument & accept some of it based on your intensity, you reject everything out of hand. That's FUD, bud.
"I'm aware that some vendors bundle Office with their computers, but that's not the same thing at all."
Do you seriously believe this statement? The bundling is everything. Try this: s/Office/Windows/g
In my experience, Office is mediocre at best (especially Word, Access, and Outlook).
If you're not getting paid to astroturf, ask yourself, "Why am I not getting paid to astroturf?"
Maybe their interview question was too close to what the US government expects from people (I've noticed a trend of defensive military types responding), but there is no way in hell you'd get me to answer yes to that question.
I don't want to work for a big company in the military-industrial complex. So I work with small companies, some of which act terrifyingly like this one. I just want these people put in jail, or at least out-of-business, so that I can get on with business.
There are reasons why people get away with this shit, and you're blind cynicism is among them.
A rational, articulate response? Quick, dbenhur, get out while you still can!
Very well said. NPR is derivative, too. But, at least they have solid journalistic principles. They call the right people and get them on the air. As opposed to a lot of media (Cable news, websites), which often put words into others' mouths via "commentary."
The Daily Show skewers this practice and so many others, and they won a Peabody for it!
Ariana Huffington lives in Los Angeles (Brentwood, I believe) and her offices occupy half a floor in a Santa Monica skyrise. If that's what you consider a freelance writer, then Salon needs an office in a major market.
:(
If Salon fails, I won't miss Arianna's column, although she's one of the more moderate writers. But I would miss the great layout and navigation. Plus, Salon Premium does kick ass. Tons of mp3s of new music and literature. And all on a nice LAMP setup.
I became disheartened when the Salon webmaster crew felt they needed to learn Java to improve their future job prospects.
I was locked out because of their spidering filter, too. But I called up at like eight o'clock one night & someone unlocked it for me (& set it so that it wouldn't happen again).
Safari also has a very good search engine, althought it's wierd that they coded it in MS ASP.
The spidering filter seems intent on inhibiting the casual copier. I thought this was lame, but there's actually a certain logic to it. If you go to all the trouble to download & reassemble the books, then you've put enough work into it not to not just throw the book out there on Gnutella.
At it's most expensive, Safari books cost $2 per month. So I'm not impeding anyone's education, and I'd like to see this service stick around. In fact, I can save people a bundle if I get them to use it the way it's meant to be used.
The one lame thing is that OReilly pads their selection with multiple editions of the same book and also with books that are available for free on the openbook site--ok, that's like five books, but still... They're really starting to get a good selection now.
In college, I used a free (as in stolen beer) html copy of a textbook for a class, and realized at the end of the year that someone had purposefully altered the book so that a lot of information was horribly incorrect. They'd basically cut out the word "not" all through the book, and inserted it after "is" in other places. Most people would not do that, but some a-hole did. Ah, college, what a hellhole.
I repeat, FedEx and UPS should not exist. Or they should always be on the verge of bankruptcy, cowering and resorting to useless lawsuits against that titan of paper-based correspondence, the almighty United States Post Office. There can be nothing worse than a government-sponsored monopoly, as there can be nothing worse than government. Ayn Rand said so. BTW, that egomaniac charlatan Alan Greenspan needs to be flogged on his naked fanny for daring to intervene in the free market. Down with the USPS! Death to Alan Greenspan!
mwuhahahahahahaha
mwuhaaahahahhahaaa
mwuha mwuhahahahaha
So you think being at the top of the food chain is so great?
Curley was a homo?
Based on what? Just curious. I find four numbers easier to remember, especially with the combined use of tens + hundreds (eg. fifteen hundred, 23 hundred and 35). Or are you just joking?
Uh? How is that statement not ironic? I don't want to get in an American Heritage vs. Webster's argument here, but it could only be described as ironic if your hard drive fails _while_ you're backing it up. What other word is appropriate there?
The problem with Alanis Morissette's song was that she gave lame examples of irony. It's not really ironic for it to rain on your wedding day because there is not a strong enough correllation between the event and the weather. It would be ironic if I loved rain and it rained on my wedding day. 'A black fly in your chardonnay' is weakly ironic because of the incongruity of the 'classiness' of the drink and the 'dirtiness' of the fly--but it's overly contrived and needs more context. Someone with a fear of flying finally getting on a plane that crashes is ironic, but it's also cynical. Ironic means that there are multiple, disparate, but related meanings associated with a statement or scenario (as opposed to sarcasm, which is when something is said when the opposite is meant). So it is ironic that the harddrive crashes while backing up, since the intent of backing up the harddrive was to save the data in case the drive ever crashed--especially given that the poster now gets to read about how the drive is known for failure. Then again, it sounds like a troll.
But in trying to be witty and sarcastic, you end up, ironically, sounding like a dense jerk.
But who cares, anyway? Irony is dead.
In my experience, MacPerl has been a major part of keeping Apple machines viable for serious computing (without running Linux). I know several people who worked at NASA, and they lived by MacPerl. I don't know what percentage of users currently run =10, but I'd imagine the majority run the former. So, in summation, MacPerl is a great benefit to both the MacOS and Perl communities. Thank you.
Your vision sounds great, but so does Perl6. My friends and I have had fun talking about CLI, but I doubt managed C++ can regain multiple inheritance, or that functional languages will work efficiently. And you must know that many people at Microsoft have expressed very different views than your's on how .NET is going to work.
Then again, you could be the James Duncan Davidson of Microsoft. Programmers need reassurance that they aren't being led into a concentration camp (in the Woody Allen sense). Sun's half-hearted attempts at involving the community with Java failed to produce what you hope for with CLI, despite attempts like Kawa and Jython. I'm loath to see that repeated, and will remain wary until licensing & platform equivalency issues are resolved.
Especially since MS was partly responsible for that. A friend of mine once e-mailed me excitedly about a new version of Java called J++. It took us a while to figure out that it was just a compiler.
Anyway, I wonder how this will affect the *BSD IS DYING posts?
"In a world, bullshit" Is this a Freudian slip? Janeane Garafalo parodies movie previews by just saying "In a world..." very ominously (like "In a world without justice, one man offered hope" or "In a world full of MS FUD, Ayende Rahien posts way too much").
I've read your posts. I don't know what you're game is, but it rarely makes much sense. Try fewer posts, higher quality.
The majority of languages today are C-based. There isn't much difference between C++ and C# and Java.
99% of the tasks we do are trivial. When we want to do something more, we fail because the languages don't offer any more.
C incorporating assembly and CLI running unsafe code are examples of language flexibility? C# + CLI is another incremental step in moving beyond C, and it's got all kinds of crap associated with it (Hailstorm, Passport).