Though I am a debian user and agree with you wholeheartedly, which person do we give the award to for Debian? Ian Murdock, the one who started the project? The current DPL? I believe the nominations have to be for people.
Does anyone know if it's true about Sony? Do they really make more money from electronics and computer sales than they do from media (music, movies, games) sales?
Any software release can be either feature-driven _OR_ date-driven. Not only will adding more resources (staff) NOT help your team to meet the deadline, it will probably delay it further.
I suggest giving "the owner" a copy of "The Mythical Man Month" to read.
I have worked 18 hour days for weeks at a time and the software, in the end, worked. Unfortunately, it's hard to say how much time, if any, would have been added to the project deadline for 8 hour days.
The problem
on
Want Freedom?
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· Score: 2, Insightful
The problem, in my opinion, is that most Americans are not taught critical thinking. As a group (yes, I'm American), we generally accept whatever is spoon-fed to us by the media, by our elected leaders, or by whatever commercial happens to be on between reality TV shows.
I'm sure this problem exists everywhere, but it seems to be really bad here in the U.S.
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin
His whitepaper brings up one good point, in my opinion. That in the free software world, consumers can develop software for other consumers rather than businesses developing software for profit. His example of Mozilla giving the user control over privacy with cookies, etc. is a good one. A better one would be the popup-disabling support that AOL/Netscape (tried to) remove from the commercial version of the browser.
Someone should implement something that, when a banner ad or pop-up is encountered, starts a thread and downloads the content, but does NOT display it to the user in the browser. It just happens invisibly in the background.
You could take it one step further and have it "click through" in another thread. This way, the web sites get their ad revenue AND we don't have to look at annoying ads. The only one who suffers is the person providing the ad.
I think the author spent two weeks wondering why 3^2 kept giving him the answer 1 instead of 9.
Duh.
In my numerical analysis class, we spent a good deal of time demonstrating the pitfalls of Fortran. There are certain numerical mistakes that can ONLY be made in Fortran. Ick.
First of all, JBoss is LGPL licensed, not GPL licensed. I belive the license change took place with the 2.x JBoss tree.
Secondly, the fact that something derived from JBoss may not continue the "compatibility and portability" should not inhibit JBoss from getting certified. A proprietary piece of software could do the same thing, the result being that the derived work would not be certified while the original would. Why should JBoss be any different?
An application's usability is directly related to the ease with which a user can predict its behavior when he gives it input. This is why usability testing is a productive activity. In its basic form, it goes like this:
1. Create a prototype of the interface you are designing. In some cases prototypes are created using "scripting" languages or "RAD" tools, and sometimes they are just printed onto "paper." This last type is called a "paper prototype," the name deriving from the "paper" on which it is printed, and the fact that it is a prototype.
2. Coerce an appropriately representative set of individuals into participating in the usability test. The use of lethal force may be necessary.
3. Ask the user to perform a certain task, using the prototype.
4. Observe and record the steps the user takes, with particular attention to his mistakes.
5. Rinse, lather, repeat.
The fundamental premise of the usability test is that the user has certain expectations of how a given interface will behave, and the thing that a designer must do is to identify the places where his interface does not conform to those expectations, and to fix them.
This is exactly the problem, in my opinion, with open-source user interfaces. This stragegy may have been good in the Xerox PARC days before computers were mainstream. However, if we follow this strategy today, we'll undoubtedly be left with something that is familiar rather than intuitive. Why SHOULD all menus be in the top of the window? Just because that's where the user EXPECTS them doesn't mean that's the most usable place for them. It's in direct violation of Fitt's Law, for Pete's sake.
If we ever want to evolve past this Microsoft-centric view of usability, we need to understand that sometimes, a completely new way of interacting with the user may be more usable that what s/he is familiar with.
Much as I like her, though, this movie still sucked. The plot was teetering between non-existent and "thin", the characters were too rigid and the acting, overall, wasn't that great.
Save your money, or go see Ice Age. It's a much more entertaining way to spend a few hours.
No book, no matter how "on the mark" it may be (and I'm not saying that this one is, as I haven't read it), can teach a manager how to earn the respect of the people reporting to her. The problem with most IT managers is that they are either:
Non-technical people with MBAs who probably can't write a "Hello World!" program.
People who were tech people at one point, but are so far removed from it that their experience is not useful or applicable.
That's the problem. The solution is to have your managers be tech people. A lot of tech people are not giong to make good managers due to lack of leadership ability, social skills, etc. However, some tech people will make good managers. Also, teams should be 4-5 people at most, with one of the team members managing the project. That is, the person managing the project should still be writing code.
One other thing I've noticed... Having a hierarchical organization for tech people generally doesn't work. All of the aforementioned tech managers should report in to one high-level person who knows the goals outside of the tech organization.
Personally, I could care less what Micros~1 does. They don't even "play fair" in a capitalist marketplace and the poster is asking for suggestions on how they could "play" in the OSS community? What a joke.
Micros~1 will change or they will die. It's that simple. They feel it, which is why they're doing things like "Shared Source",.NET, etc.
Okay. First of all, when you're talking about paying software developers to write code, you have to understand that there are a few different "types" of software. I'll stick to the two I'm most familiar with: consumer software and enterprise software.
Let's take consumer software. Consumer software is things like applications, consumer operating systems, development tools, etc. Companies like Red Hat, CodeWeavers, Mandrake, theKompany, Suse, etc. all employ programmers. As far as I know, these programmers are making money, and in some cases, the companies are as well. CodeWeavers, for example, contributes code to the Wine project and then writes non-free "easy-installation and setup" utilities in order to have some "value add" that is worth paying for. Red Hat actually makes money from selling only services, as every piece of code that they write (AFAIK) is released to the public under an OSS / FS license.
Now let's take enterprise software. Look at projects like JBoss, Tomcat, Castor, etc. In nearly all enterprise software, there is a need for an "infrastructure layer". My company actually PAYS ME to fix any bugs in JBoss, Tomcat or any of the other things we're using as our "infrastructure" because it's a hell of a lot cheaper than paying for a resale license of WebLogic or WebSphere. Our customers are happy because they get a reliable system. I'm happy because I get paid to work on OSS stuff. My company is happy because they save money (or make more money, depending on how you look at it) using the OSS / FS infrastructure... everyone is happy. I'm not starving to death, I swear. Lots of enterprise software companies take this approach. Why? Because it makes economic sense to do so. Why? Because if they pay their programmers to fix bugs in an OSS codebase, they get the added advantage of other people (who they do NOT pay) fixing bugs for them, too.
So, I'd hate to be harsh, but... you're just WRONG.
Search through your (already ripped to digital format) music collection lyrics to find songs that contain all the words in the letter.
"Sample" aforementioned words using a.wav file editor, making sure that there are less than 15 seconds (or whatever the "fair use" limit is) from each song.
Assemble these samples into a digital-audio version of the letter.
Rip it to MP3.
Upload it anywhere you can.
Burn it onto CD and email it to your representative / senators.
Admittedly, it's silly, but it makes a point. Something similar could be done with video samples.
Clearly you've used Windows 95. Probably back in about 1996 at a friend's house.
Since then, you've just been the typical Mac suckup.
Actually, this is my first Mac, for what it's worth. I am forced to use Win2K on one of my boxes at work and, like all its predecessors, it sucks. I hate it. As soon as I log into it I feel crippled. The UI is clumsy, at best. Don't get me started on the wondrous "CMD" command line. It's barely a tolerable environment even with Cygwin running.
Also... my PIII 800 linux box seems a bit slower than the G4 800 iMac, but admittedly, I haven't done any benchmarks.
Well, no. It won't necessarily outperform my computer. Plus, you need to add in the cost of a firewire card. Also a flat screen. And then the cost of all of the hours having to fight with inferior software. Have you ever _USED_ OSX?
It's (in my opinion) the only commercial operating system worth it's price in bits.
I did just that THIS PAST WEEKEND. Since there doesn't seem to be any STABLE iPod support for Linux yet, and since I hate Windows and since I REALLY wanted an iPod, I bought a Mac. Granted, I was _considering_ buying one anyway, but the iPod (firewire) was the final selling factor.
You know, I *HATE* Windows. It sucks in all aspects. It's a lousy development system and a lousy consumer system. The only "advantage" is that it is fully "interoperable".
I use Debian for all of my real "work".
The new iLamp^H^H^H^HMac with OSX is GREAT for my girlfriend who wants ease of use. And I can burn my own DVDs, I can install most of my favorite software and, if I absolutely HAVE TO, I can read the Micros~1 Office Documents that people send me. All this, for just over $2k. You CANNOT do that in the Wintel world for that price. And even if you could, the sofware would suck. Apple has GOOD designers for ease of use. Admit it.
The problem with names that a lot of IT departments assign is that they are only "half-duplex" memorable in the WRONG direction. For example, you know that nydevbld3 is the third build server in the NY office development department, but you have NO easy way to remember which server is hosting your build (Was it nydevbld3 or njdevbld3 or nydevbld2?).
Use easy-to-spell, easy-to-remember names. Use characters in your favorite book, city names, people names, etc.
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Though I am a debian user and agree with you wholeheartedly, which person do we give the award to for Debian? Ian Murdock, the one who started the project? The current DPL? I believe the nominations have to be for people.
Sign the petition to get rid of software patents: http://www.PetitionOnline.com/pasp01/petition-sign .html
And for anyone who wants info on why software patents are bad:
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not -enough.html
Does anyone know if it's true about Sony? Do they really make more money from electronics and computer sales than they do from media (music, movies, games) sales?
Please tell Apple you want Ogg Vorbis support in the iPod.
Any software release can be either feature-driven _OR_ date-driven. Not only will adding more resources (staff) NOT help your team to meet the deadline, it will probably delay it further.
I suggest giving "the owner" a copy of "The Mythical Man Month" to read.
I have worked 18 hour days for weeks at a time and the software, in the end, worked. Unfortunately, it's hard to say how much time, if any, would have been added to the project deadline for 8 hour days.
The problem, in my opinion, is that most Americans are not taught critical thinking. As a group (yes, I'm American), we generally accept whatever is spoon-fed to us by the media, by our elected leaders, or by whatever commercial happens to be on between reality TV shows.
I'm sure this problem exists everywhere, but it seems to be really bad here in the U.S.
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin
His whitepaper brings up one good point, in my opinion. That in the free software world, consumers can develop software for other consumers rather than businesses developing software for profit. His example of Mozilla giving the user control over privacy with cookies, etc. is a good one. A better one would be the popup-disabling support that AOL/Netscape (tried to) remove from the commercial version of the browser.
The rest of his paper, IMNSHO, is rubbish.
It's the link provided by the kde 3.1 beta release announcement. Perhaps the screenshots of the beta are identical?
Screenshots are here. Enjoy.
Someone should implement something that, when a banner ad or pop-up is encountered, starts a thread and downloads the content, but does NOT display it to the user in the browser. It just happens invisibly in the background.
You could take it one step further and have it "click through" in another thread. This way, the web sites get their ad revenue AND we don't have to look at annoying ads. The only one who suffers is the person providing the ad.
What do you think?
I think the author spent two weeks wondering why 3^2 kept giving him the answer 1 instead of 9.
Duh.
In my numerical analysis class, we spent a good deal of time demonstrating the pitfalls of Fortran. There are certain numerical mistakes that can ONLY be made in Fortran. Ick.
I disagree about the "cheap toy" complaint. As an iMac owner, I can confirm that, yes, it is a toy. But it's not cheap.
My only complaint about the base is that all of the inputs are in the rear. It's so silly. Why should I have to reach around to plug in my iPod?
Two things:
First of all, JBoss is LGPL licensed, not GPL licensed. I belive the license change took place with the 2.x JBoss tree.
Secondly, the fact that something derived from JBoss may not continue the "compatibility and portability" should not inhibit JBoss from getting certified. A proprietary piece of software could do the same thing, the result being that the derived work would not be certified while the original would. Why should JBoss be any different?
I think that all of the machines running HPUX should be turned into Hockey PUX.
...
It's an even worse OS than AIX (pronounced "aches").
I'd take Tru64 over Hocky S^HPUX any day
1. Create a prototype of the interface you are designing. In some cases prototypes are created using "scripting" languages or "RAD" tools, and sometimes they are just printed onto "paper." This last type is called a "paper prototype," the name deriving from the "paper" on which it is printed, and the fact that it is a prototype.
2. Coerce an appropriately representative set of individuals into participating in the usability test. The use of lethal force may be necessary.
3. Ask the user to perform a certain task, using the prototype.
4. Observe and record the steps the user takes, with particular attention to his mistakes.
5. Rinse, lather, repeat.
The fundamental premise of the usability test is that the user has certain expectations of how a given interface will behave, and the thing that a designer must do is to identify the places where his interface does not conform to those expectations, and to fix them.
This is exactly the problem, in my opinion, with open-source user interfaces. This stragegy may have been good in the Xerox PARC days before computers were mainstream. However, if we follow this strategy today, we'll undoubtedly be left with something that is familiar rather than intuitive. Why SHOULD all menus be in the top of the window? Just because that's where the user EXPECTS them doesn't mean that's the most usable place for them. It's in direct violation of Fitt's Law, for Pete's sake.
If we ever want to evolve past this Microsoft-centric view of usability, we need to understand that sometimes, a completely new way of interacting with the user may be more usable that what s/he is familiar with.
No, I really like Jodie Foster.
Much as I like her, though, this movie still sucked. The plot was teetering between non-existent and "thin", the characters were too rigid and the acting, overall, wasn't that great.
Save your money, or go see Ice Age. It's a much more entertaining way to spend a few hours.
That's the problem. The solution is to have your managers be tech people. A lot of tech people are not giong to make good managers due to lack of leadership ability, social skills, etc. However, some tech people will make good managers. Also, teams should be 4-5 people at most, with one of the team members managing the project. That is, the person managing the project should still be writing code.
One other thing I've noticed
When I run the world, things will be different
Micros~1 will change or they will die. It's that simple. They feel it, which is why they're doing things like "Shared Source",
Let's take consumer software. Consumer software is things like applications, consumer operating systems, development tools, etc. Companies like Red Hat, CodeWeavers, Mandrake, theKompany, Suse, etc. all employ programmers. As far as I know, these programmers are making money, and in some cases, the companies are as well. CodeWeavers, for example, contributes code to the Wine project and then writes non-free "easy-installation and setup" utilities in order to have some "value add" that is worth paying for. Red Hat actually makes money from selling only services, as every piece of code that they write (AFAIK) is released to the public under an OSS / FS license.
Now let's take enterprise software. Look at projects like JBoss, Tomcat, Castor, etc. In nearly all enterprise software, there is a need for an "infrastructure layer". My company actually PAYS ME to fix any bugs in JBoss, Tomcat or any of the other things we're using as our "infrastructure" because it's a hell of a lot cheaper than paying for a resale license of WebLogic or WebSphere. Our customers are happy because they get a reliable system. I'm happy because I get paid to work on OSS stuff. My company is happy because they save money (or make more money, depending on how you look at it) using the OSS / FS infrastructure ... everyone is happy. I'm not starving to death, I swear. Lots of enterprise software companies take this approach. Why? Because it makes economic sense to do so. Why? Because if they pay their programmers to fix bugs in an OSS codebase, they get the added advantage of other people (who they do NOT pay) fixing bugs for them, too.
So, I'd hate to be harsh, but ... you're just WRONG.
- Take the EFF letter to Leahy and Hatch.
- Search through your (already ripped to digital format) music collection lyrics to find songs that contain all the words in the letter.
- "Sample" aforementioned words using a
.wav file editor, making sure that there are less than 15 seconds (or whatever the "fair use" limit is) from each song.
- Assemble these samples into a digital-audio version of the letter.
- Rip it to MP3.
- Upload it anywhere you can.
- Burn it onto CD and email it to your representative / senators.
Admittedly, it's silly, but it makes a point. Something similar could be done with video samples.That was close! I already have my tickets for my 5th screening tomorrow (Friday).
Since then, you've just been the typical Mac suckup.
Actually, this is my first Mac, for what it's worth. I am forced to use Win2K on one of my boxes at work and, like all its predecessors, it sucks. I hate it. As soon as I log into it I feel crippled. The UI is clumsy, at best. Don't get me started on the wondrous "CMD" command line. It's barely a tolerable environment even with Cygwin running.
Also
So, I'll ask again, have you ever used OSX?
Well, no. It won't necessarily outperform my computer. Plus, you need to add in the cost of a firewire card. Also a flat screen. And then the cost of all of the hours having to fight with inferior software. Have you ever _USED_ OSX?
It's (in my opinion) the only commercial operating system worth it's price in bits.
I did just that THIS PAST WEEKEND. Since there doesn't seem to be any STABLE iPod support for Linux yet, and since I hate Windows and since I REALLY wanted an iPod, I bought a Mac. Granted, I was _considering_ buying one anyway, but the iPod (firewire) was the final selling factor.
You know, I *HATE* Windows. It sucks in all aspects. It's a lousy development system and a lousy consumer system. The only "advantage" is that it is fully "interoperable".
I use Debian for all of my real "work".
The new iLamp^H^H^H^HMac with OSX is GREAT for my girlfriend who wants ease of use. And I can burn my own DVDs, I can install most of my favorite software and, if I absolutely HAVE TO, I can read the Micros~1 Office Documents that people send me. All this, for just over $2k. You CANNOT do that in the Wintel world for that price. And even if you could, the sofware would suck. Apple has GOOD designers for ease of use. Admit it.
The problem with names that a lot of IT departments assign is that they are only "half-duplex" memorable in the WRONG direction. For example, you know that nydevbld3 is the third build server in the NY office development department, but you have NO easy way to remember which server is hosting your build (Was it nydevbld3 or njdevbld3 or nydevbld2?).
Use easy-to-spell, easy-to-remember names. Use characters in your favorite book, city names, people names, etc.