Then why is it that Microsoft keeps trying to copy it (failing miserable) ala Remote Desktop etc.?
Other people have said it, but you are so wrong I have to say it again. Remote Desktop and Terminal Services are not failures. They're the only way we can serve database-intensive applications to remote sites on slow connections.
Microsoft has got some things right. Deal with it.
Yeah, that happens all the time when people order hard drives from CDW or PCConnection, or when they're shipped to Circuit City, or when you order a computer and it gets shipped to you, or during any of the other millions of times a hard drive is shipped somewhere.
Are you serious? No sound editor in their right mind should be using lossy compression. In any case, your application is hardly relevant to the discussion.
I disagree pretty strongly with this statement. Although MP3s are technically inferior to their uncompressed counterparts, I think the vast majority of people consider MP3s equal to CD audio. As a casual listener, I can't tell the difference between a 192 kbps MP3 and the CD I ripped it from.
I'm sure there are audiophiles and other music enthusiasts who disagree with me, but I'm also sure that those people compose a minority among music listeners.
Projects like this are in various stages of completion all over the country. In most of these undertakings, the goal is simply to make the city a more attractive place for new businesses (not necessarily tech companies). In particular, it can lower barriers of entry for telecommunications companies. Does it work? Nobody really knows yet. These networks are relatively new and so there's no significant data on their economic impact.
But a lot of cities are building these networks, so it's a real gamble not to. What if they turn out to be really valuable? What if they become a basic public utility? If that happens, then not having a fiber network will be like not having sewers.
Then again, all that fiber could end up just like those steam pipes -- abandoned and useless.
I think perfection is flexible in this case. You're absolutely right, most software doesn't work perfectly (except maybe "Hello World"). But lets ignore petty semantic details for a moment and listen to what Marius has to say, because it's spot-on.
I like Linux a lot. I'm in charge of a systems group and Linux is running on almost all of our servers. In the data center, it's rock solid and it works -- but after running it on my workstation for two years, I can't say the same about Linux on the desktop. It mostly works, but mostly isn't good enough. Every single application has at least one non-functional detail that makes me want to climb the wall with my teeth. And instead of fixing those last few problems, people decide to start their own projects from scratch. That is stupid. It's a waste of time and it only serves the developer's ego.
If I were you I'd nix the hard drive and use solid state storage instead. Most hard drives weren't designed with potholes in mind, and changing temperatures can produce condensation inside the drive. The downsides to using solid state are that its more expensive, and you can get much larger drives than you can flash (a quick Google reveals 512MB and 896MB IDE solid state storage, and not much else). But if you're like me, then you'll enjoy the challenge of reduced capacity.;-)
The maount of time you spend with debugging memory leaks and taking care of buffer overflows...
This diminishes with experience. I write apps for Palm OS, where bare-metal programming is the only logical choice (this is beginning to change with better processors but it's not there yet). I've been programming in C for ten years and I rarely spend more than thirty minutes on memory management errors over the course of an entire release cycle, if at all.
I haven't done much OOP -- mostly just Objective-C stuff on NeXTSTEP and OS X -- but I can say that memory management is a relevant concern in high-level languages too. It's just a different flavor of memory management, with reference counts and retain/release messages instead of handle locking. Both levels have a "null" concept and its associated dangers.
Languages have their place and I agree with the article that mail clients and IRC apps probably shouldn't be written in C. Unless, of course, you're writing them for a platform like Palm OS. And let's not forget that someone still has to write your virtual machine.;-)
Um, so let me get this straight. They challenge all incoming mail except for the spam they've been paid to let through? And this is an "inseparable" part of the service?
I'm not sure, but where I work, the director of finance assigns tasks by thanking people for things they haven't done yet. It's really bizarre and it makes people feel kind of dirty for following through on her requests, like they've been subjected to some sort of Jedi mind-trick. Example:
Finance Director: "Thanks for giving Jack the auditor responsibility in PROD."
DBA: "I'll give Jack the auditor responsibility in PROD."
Finance Directory: "Thanks for going home and rethinking your life."
DBA: "I'll go home and rethink my life."
People might want to check out the Services menu as well (it's a submenu of the application menu). It contains services offered by other applications that any application can take advantage of. Among other things, it includes a menu item to send the current document in an email.
I think the Services menu is one of the most underrated and underutilized features in Mac OS X.
This is a design patent, not a utility patent (which is the type of patent often lambasted 'round these parts). This protects the image that is Apple's trash can, not the function of a trash can on a computer. From the USPTO:
n general terms, a ?utility patent? protects the way an article is used and works (35 U.S.C. 101), while a ?design patent? protects the way an article looks (35 U.S.C. 171). Both design and utility patents may be obtained on an article if invention resides both in its utility and ornamental appearance. While utility and design patents afford legally separate protection, the utility and ornamentality of an article are not easily separable. Articles of manufacture may possess both functional and ornamental characteristics.
Slashdot Mirror
Other people have said it, but you are so wrong I have to say it again. Remote Desktop and Terminal Services are not failures. They're the only way we can serve database-intensive applications to remote sites on slow connections.
Microsoft has got some things right. Deal with it.
I've done that once. I haven't done it again because... well... it's boring.
It's a shame you're taking such a beating for this.
So, would that be a metatroll?
Yeah, that happens all the time when people order hard drives from CDW or PCConnection, or when they're shipped to Circuit City, or when you order a computer and it gets shipped to you, or during any of the other millions of times a hard drive is shipped somewhere.
Oh, wait... no it doesn't.
Bluetooth can also be used to sync a Palm with iSync on a Mac.
Are you serious? No sound editor in their right mind should be using lossy compression. In any case, your application is hardly relevant to the discussion.
MP3s are technically inferior, but not experientially. Technical inferiority only matters to people like us.
I disagree pretty strongly with this statement. Although MP3s are technically inferior to their uncompressed counterparts, I think the vast majority of people consider MP3s equal to CD audio. As a casual listener, I can't tell the difference between a 192 kbps MP3 and the CD I ripped it from.
I'm sure there are audiophiles and other music enthusiasts who disagree with me, but I'm also sure that those people compose a minority among music listeners.
Google's experimental glossary is also quite good.
But a lot of cities are building these networks, so it's a real gamble not to. What if they turn out to be really valuable? What if they become a basic public utility? If that happens, then not having a fiber network will be like not having sewers.
Then again, all that fiber could end up just like those steam pipes -- abandoned and useless.
I like Linux a lot. I'm in charge of a systems group and Linux is running on almost all of our servers. In the data center, it's rock solid and it works -- but after running it on my workstation for two years, I can't say the same about Linux on the desktop. It mostly works, but mostly isn't good enough. Every single application has at least one non-functional detail that makes me want to climb the wall with my teeth. And instead of fixing those last few problems, people decide to start their own projects from scratch. That is stupid. It's a waste of time and it only serves the developer's ego.
What's the first thing everyone asks TeenLuvr16?
age/sex/location
If I were you I'd nix the hard drive and use solid state storage instead. Most hard drives weren't designed with potholes in mind, and changing temperatures can produce condensation inside the drive. The downsides to using solid state are that its more expensive, and you can get much larger drives than you can flash (a quick Google reveals 512MB and 896MB IDE solid state storage, and not much else). But if you're like me, then you'll enjoy the challenge of reduced capacity. ;-)
What you describe sounds similar to Timbuk2's "build your own" system. I have to admit that Timbuk2's system is a pleasure to use.
This diminishes with experience. I write apps for Palm OS, where bare-metal programming is the only logical choice (this is beginning to change with better processors but it's not there yet). I've been programming in C for ten years and I rarely spend more than thirty minutes on memory management errors over the course of an entire release cycle, if at all.
I haven't done much OOP -- mostly just Objective-C stuff on NeXTSTEP and OS X -- but I can say that memory management is a relevant concern in high-level languages too. It's just a different flavor of memory management, with reference counts and retain/release messages instead of handle locking. Both levels have a "null" concept and its associated dangers.
Languages have their place and I agree with the article that mail clients and IRC apps probably shouldn't be written in C. Unless, of course, you're writing them for a platform like Palm OS. And let's not forget that someone still has to write your virtual machine. ;-)
Um, so let me get this straight. They challenge all incoming mail except for the spam they've been paid to let through? And this is an "inseparable" part of the service?
Next, please...
This is slightly off-topic, but too funny not to post: http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_fullstory.asp?id=382 8
That's fine, just keep in mind that simply being American doesn't make your opinion informed or worth listening to.
Finance Director: "Thanks for giving Jack the auditor responsibility in PROD."
DBA: "I'll give Jack the auditor responsibility in PROD."
Finance Directory: "Thanks for going home and rethinking your life."
DBA: "I'll go home and rethink my life."
Thanks for the link, it's pretty nice...
People might want to check out the Services menu as well (it's a submenu of the application menu). It contains services offered by other applications that any application can take advantage of. Among other things, it includes a menu item to send the current document in an email.
I think the Services menu is one of the most underrated and underutilized features in Mac OS X.
It is a tad excessive. ;-)
Keep this in mind before flaming anyone.
$0.99 per song isn't too bad -- but who wants to bet this'll be a .Mac service?
Let's not forget BeOS, which began life on multi-PPC systems.