Yes, I know Internet usage is not a civil right per se. However, in the USA and Canada, it's becoming extremely difficult to carry out certain basic functions off line.
Look at the bright side. Microsoft is too incompetent to implement something like this anyways, and the patent will prevent competent companies from implementing it. Thanks, Microsoft, from helping us avoid intrusive crap like this!
Dreamweaver creates crappy, non-semamtic code. This increases bandwidth costs, makes your site slow, will break your site in future browsers, makes it hard for Google to figure out what the hell is going on on your page, and makes it hard to make changes later.
In other words, you're free to use Dreamweaver for your hobby site, but let the professionals do their job, please.
Ask yourself who you are working for. Most likely, you are essentially working for the people who end up using your application. If they don't like it, you have failed. Thus, the first priority should be to satisfy users.
If the application runs too slow and your users abandon you, the prettiest back-end architecture won't help you one bit.
In my opinion, maintainability should never come at the expense of the end user.
Because more often than not it won't. Its not going to be able to correct non-common acronyms, abbreviations, or last names.
Yes, it won't do it the first time you type them, but it learns.
I actually used the iPhone to type german sentences back when it only understood english. Incredibly, it only took about a week for it to learn 99% of all the words I use. After very little time, I could type fluent german on an iPhone with an US english dictionary.
Its going to pick the wrong versions of similar sounding words (its vs it's).
What? Why? This isn't speech recognition. The sound of words is of no consequence. Its has a letter less than it's, so the iPhone has no issues whatsoever differentiating between the two.
Its a hack on top of a broken system thats extremely fragile.
In reality, this is not true. I suspect you have not actually used an iPhone for an extended period of time; otherwise, you'd know that you are wrong.
The sad thing is this could have been avoided quite simply- include a fucking *STYLUS*.
Which would have created tons of applications with small on-screen elements that you couldn't possibly use without the stylus. Part of the genius of the iPhone is that you can use it with your thumbs. Moving from the Treo 650 and a P990i to the iPhone is a huge relief; hunting for all these little menus and buttons and links is finally over.
The device touchscreens are meant to be used by, and which gives you the accuracy needed. But no, Jobs wanted his POS to be used by fingers only. Fucking moron.
Please use the device before declaring Jobs a moron.
Basically, I can't type on the iPhone in portrait mode. In landscape, I can usually peck my way using index fingers, either one handed holding the phone in the other hand, or two handed if a lay the phone on a surface. Typing with thumbs (the preferred method of all bberry users) is simply not possible. I find that hard to believe. Do you attempt to spell correctly at first attempt, or do you use the iPhone's auto-correction? I have large hands, too, and while the iPhone often gets single letters wrong, it typically manages to figure out the word I was trying to write anyways. Perhaps you should try to stop worry about single wrong letters?
I've owned a Treo 640 and a P990i. I'm a large person (187 cm, big hands). While I do find typing on the iPhone slightly harder than on the other phones (which admittedly could be due to lack of "training" because I owned the other phones way longer), it is still very easy after a few weeks or even days of learning. The main disadvantage is not that typing on the iPhone is slower or more error-prone, but that you have to look at the iPhone while you're typing; on phones with keyboards, I could look at something else and still type quite okay.
But generally, typing on the iPhone is just not an issue, large hands or no.
Rock Band for the Wii isn't out yet; I guess you played Guitar Hero. I agree, this is great fun at parties.
Smarty Pants is a Wii game somewhat similar to the TV show "Who wants to be a millionaire." It has a ton of questions about technology and science, and it's always a success at parties with comp sci, biology or math students.
Well, if you own a large percentage of a market, and that market requires a specific type of processor, then you're essentially - by buying large quantities of it - paying for this processor's development anyway, thus subsidising your competition.
Also, if you have a chip that is better than everyone else's, and you own that chip, that's a huge competitive advantage.
I'm not saying this is the case here. Just saying that there may be sound reasons for a move such as Apple's.
I see that my sentences could be parsed that way, but the "since" was not meant as causation, but implying a point in time:
You're right, iWork is not equivalent to Office. It's better. Since Pages supports change tracking, I've been able to get rid of Word for the first time in a decade. Phew! So there are two things I tried to express: 1) Pages is better than Word 2) After Pages implemented change tracking, I was able to stop using Word and replace it with Pages
You're right, OpenOffice doesn't work particularly well on the Mac (well, it works, but it's ugly). I use NeoOffice myself, which is a slightly more Mac-like port of OpenOffice.
Yeah, the pre-installed versions of open source software are often a bit outdated, but you can easily compile your own.
There are some third-party virtual desktop solutions. You're right, Spaces isn't as useful as some Linux implementations of the concept.
I prefer application-switching to window-switching, but if you want window-switching, there's witch.
There's not really any lack of control on Macs. It's just that most preferences aren't exposed in the UI. You typically set them using the defaults command. As for your particular case, keeping Mac notebooks running with the lid closed is a bad idea, since they can't cool themselves properly that way.
Can't help you with the package management, though. I use MacPorts, and I'm quite happy with it (it's better than Fink, imho), but if those two aren't what you're looking for, you're out of luck:-)
Huh? Where did you get the impression that I thought Word didn't support change tracking? I think it's quite clear from what I wrote that I used to use Word for change tracking, but was able to get rid of it since Pages now supports Word-compatible change tracking.
Panic Software, Delicious Monster, Red Sweater, C-Command, Macromates, Plasq... Sorry, all Mac software shops, that's the community I'm most familiar with.
It's pretty well-known that for every start-up business that succeeds, a larger number have tried and failed.
Well, if that is generally the case, then it's hardly something specific to programmers. In fact, I'd bet that programmers who start their own business are on average more successfull than "random" people.
I forgot to add, another critical skill in running many businesses is the ability to talk to people and schmooze with them
If you're doing contract work, yes. If your intention is selling a product, no. Besides, your idea of programmers is pretty strange. I think you watched a few too many Hollywood movies.
That's probably why they're so popular. Matte screens look dull sitting next to shiny, glossy screens in a store with tons of head lights and no windows. As soon as you take the computer out of the store, though, you realize how utterly screwed you are.
Er, I bought a MacBook Pro that even with a company discount was close to $3K while the same specced T61 was about $2k. I ended up trading the MacBook to a co-worker for the T61 because I just couldn't be productive on OSX after Linux.
Huh. That is strange. I mean, what did you get in Linux that you were missing on OS X? I find the transition between the two extremely easy. Just like on Linux, you have the Unix-y shell, package management, X Windows and all that neat stuff on OS X. You can even run KDE on the thing, or, for that matter, install Linux (either virutalized or on a partition).
How could you not be productive on OS X "after Linux"?
I personally have a MacBook Pro, and we have Lenovos at work. If I were to buy a Windows notebook, I would probably go Lenovo or Asus, but I have to agree that the T61 and the MacBook Pro are not really equal. IMHO, the Lenovos are nice, reliable notebooks (at least compared to some of the Dell crap we have), but they definitely aren't as well-made as MacBook Pros. The build quality on the MacBooks is awesome, and the new (anti-glare:-) LED screens are gorgeous.
Also, many Mac users have had to endure decades of "meh, why don't you get a real computer" snobbery and thus end up being quite defensive of their precious.
He's probably saying that you can install XP SP2 on the Mac, boot with the Leopard DVD, and it'll install all the drivers for all the hardware in your Mac, even the built-in webcam. If you buy a PC laptop, they tend to come with a preinstalled Windows full of crapware, or a clean Windows. So if you want a clean Windows + support for all hardware, you have to go hunting for drivers.
So yeah, in many cases, running Windows on a Mac ends up being a better experience than running it on a Windows PC.
You're right, iWork is not equivalent to Office. It's better. Since Pages supports change tracking, I've been able to get rid of Word for the first time in a decade. Phew!
This is the only reason I'm typing this on a MacBook Pro instead of on a MacBook. And I actually know a person who switched to a PC notebook simply because there are no cheap Mac portables with non-glossy screens.
What the hell is wrong with the people who prefer portables with mirrors for screens? When I was a kid, tech stores actually sold screen filters which you could attach to your CRT to get rid of glare. I thought we had managed to produce screens which don't need these anymore, but apparently, there will soon again be a market for attachments which make screens actually usable.
The success of all these small indie companies seems to suggest that, perhaps, the same thing that makes people good programmers also makes them good businessmen (analytical thinking?). I kind of doubt marrying a business-oriented partner is required.
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Like, for example, most jobs.
If you think both parties are still alike, you haven't learned anything during the past eight years.
Look at the bright side. Microsoft is too incompetent to implement something like this anyways, and the patent will prevent competent companies from implementing it. Thanks, Microsoft, from helping us avoid intrusive crap like this!
You forgot:
Dreamweaver creates crappy, non-semamtic code. This increases bandwidth costs, makes your site slow, will break your site in future browsers, makes it hard for Google to figure out what the hell is going on on your page, and makes it hard to make changes later.
In other words, you're free to use Dreamweaver for your hobby site, but let the professionals do their job, please.
Ask yourself who you are working for. Most likely, you are essentially working for the people who end up using your application. If they don't like it, you have failed. Thus, the first priority should be to satisfy users.
If the application runs too slow and your users abandon you, the prettiest back-end architecture won't help you one bit.
In my opinion, maintainability should never come at the expense of the end user.
Yes, it won't do it the first time you type them, but it learns.
I actually used the iPhone to type german sentences back when it only understood english. Incredibly, it only took about a week for it to learn 99% of all the words I use. After very little time, I could type fluent german on an iPhone with an US english dictionary.
Its going to pick the wrong versions of similar sounding words (its vs it's).What? Why? This isn't speech recognition. The sound of words is of no consequence. Its has a letter less than it's, so the iPhone has no issues whatsoever differentiating between the two.
Its a hack on top of a broken system thats extremely fragile.In reality, this is not true. I suspect you have not actually used an iPhone for an extended period of time; otherwise, you'd know that you are wrong.
The sad thing is this could have been avoided quite simply- include a fucking *STYLUS*.Which would have created tons of applications with small on-screen elements that you couldn't possibly use without the stylus. Part of the genius of the iPhone is that you can use it with your thumbs. Moving from the Treo 650 and a P990i to the iPhone is a huge relief; hunting for all these little menus and buttons and links is finally over.
The device touchscreens are meant to be used by, and which gives you the accuracy needed. But no, Jobs wanted his POS to be used by fingers only. Fucking moron.Please use the device before declaring Jobs a moron.
How is it broken if the text on the screen ends up saying the thing I intended to type?
I've owned a Treo 640 and a P990i. I'm a large person (187 cm, big hands). While I do find typing on the iPhone slightly harder than on the other phones (which admittedly could be due to lack of "training" because I owned the other phones way longer), it is still very easy after a few weeks or even days of learning. The main disadvantage is not that typing on the iPhone is slower or more error-prone, but that you have to look at the iPhone while you're typing; on phones with keyboards, I could look at something else and still type quite okay.
But generally, typing on the iPhone is just not an issue, large hands or no.
Rock Band for the Wii isn't out yet; I guess you played Guitar Hero. I agree, this is great fun at parties.
Smarty Pants is a Wii game somewhat similar to the TV show "Who wants to be a millionaire." It has a ton of questions about technology and science, and it's always a success at parties with comp sci, biology or math students.
Well, if you own a large percentage of a market, and that market requires a specific type of processor, then you're essentially - by buying large quantities of it - paying for this processor's development anyway, thus subsidising your competition.
Also, if you have a chip that is better than everyone else's, and you own that chip, that's a huge competitive advantage.
I'm not saying this is the case here. Just saying that there may be sound reasons for a move such as Apple's.
1) Pages is better than Word
2) After Pages implemented change tracking, I was able to stop using Word and replace it with Pages
All clear now?
You're right, OpenOffice doesn't work particularly well on the Mac (well, it works, but it's ugly). I use NeoOffice myself, which is a slightly more Mac-like port of OpenOffice.
Yeah, the pre-installed versions of open source software are often a bit outdated, but you can easily compile your own.
NetInfo is gone in Leopard.
There are some third-party virtual desktop solutions. You're right, Spaces isn't as useful as some Linux implementations of the concept.
:-)
I prefer application-switching to window-switching, but if you want window-switching, there's witch.
There's not really any lack of control on Macs. It's just that most preferences aren't exposed in the UI. You typically set them using the defaults command. As for your particular case, keeping Mac notebooks running with the lid closed is a bad idea, since they can't cool themselves properly that way.
Can't help you with the package management, though. I use MacPorts, and I'm quite happy with it (it's better than Fink, imho), but if those two aren't what you're looking for, you're out of luck
Huh? Where did you get the impression that I thought Word didn't support change tracking? I think it's quite clear from what I wrote that I used to use Word for change tracking, but was able to get rid of it since Pages now supports Word-compatible change tracking.
I mean... huh?
Panic Software, Delicious Monster, Red Sweater, C-Command, Macromates, Plasq... Sorry, all Mac software shops, that's the community I'm most familiar with.
It's pretty well-known that for every start-up business that succeeds, a larger number have tried and failed.Well, if that is generally the case, then it's hardly something specific to programmers. In fact, I'd bet that programmers who start their own business are on average more successfull than "random" people.
I forgot to add, another critical skill in running many businesses is the ability to talk to people and schmooze with themIf you're doing contract work, yes. If your intention is selling a product, no. Besides, your idea of programmers is pretty strange. I think you watched a few too many Hollywood movies.
That's probably why they're so popular. Matte screens look dull sitting next to shiny, glossy screens in a store with tons of head lights and no windows. As soon as you take the computer out of the store, though, you realize how utterly screwed you are.
Huh. That is strange. I mean, what did you get in Linux that you were missing on OS X? I find the transition between the two extremely easy. Just like on Linux, you have the Unix-y shell, package management, X Windows and all that neat stuff on OS X. You can even run KDE on the thing, or, for that matter, install Linux (either virutalized or on a partition).
How could you not be productive on OS X "after Linux"?
I personally have a MacBook Pro, and we have Lenovos at work. If I were to buy a Windows notebook, I would probably go Lenovo or Asus, but I have to agree that the T61 and the MacBook Pro are not really equal. IMHO, the Lenovos are nice, reliable notebooks (at least compared to some of the Dell crap we have), but they definitely aren't as well-made as MacBook Pros. The build quality on the MacBooks is awesome, and the new (anti-glare :-) LED screens are gorgeous.
:-)
Also, only one of the two runs Mac OS X
Also, many Mac users have had to endure decades of "meh, why don't you get a real computer" snobbery and thus end up being quite defensive of their precious.
Don't wait for a Mac tablet. You'll probably be waiting for a long time :-)
Either get a modbook, or get a Windows tablet if you need that form factor.
He's probably saying that you can install XP SP2 on the Mac, boot with the Leopard DVD, and it'll install all the drivers for all the hardware in your Mac, even the built-in webcam. If you buy a PC laptop, they tend to come with a preinstalled Windows full of crapware, or a clean Windows. So if you want a clean Windows + support for all hardware, you have to go hunting for drivers.
So yeah, in many cases, running Windows on a Mac ends up being a better experience than running it on a Windows PC.
You're right, iWork is not equivalent to Office. It's better. Since Pages supports change tracking, I've been able to get rid of Word for the first time in a decade. Phew!
This is the only reason I'm typing this on a MacBook Pro instead of on a MacBook. And I actually know a person who switched to a PC notebook simply because there are no cheap Mac portables with non-glossy screens.
What the hell is wrong with the people who prefer portables with mirrors for screens? When I was a kid, tech stores actually sold screen filters which you could attach to your CRT to get rid of glare. I thought we had managed to produce screens which don't need these anymore, but apparently, there will soon again be a market for attachments which make screens actually usable.
The success of all these small indie companies seems to suggest that, perhaps, the same thing that makes people good programmers also makes them good businessmen (analytical thinking?). I kind of doubt marrying a business-oriented partner is required.