Yes, it seems like there is more suck that doesn't suck in Android. Frankly I'm flabbergasted that with the amount of resources available to Android project before and after being acquired by Google that the end product consists of so much suck. Or, actually I'm just pretending to be flabbergasted because I know exactly what happened: Android was way under resourced before being acquired by Google, and after they were way over managed and, overmeetinged, over facedtimed, and overfed (see infinite free junk food).
For this is the way with Google, or any big organization really. Much more organizing than working. Improving Android therefore must be done by the community. Google needs to do more to facilitate this. This is much easier, cheaper and faster than attempting to have Google's smart people do the work. The problem with Google's smart people is, they are so smart they are extremely good at avoiding work. Not much working for the love of it there, I'm afraid.
Only the outside community can provide the kind of motivation and creativity that will seal Android's success. A megacorp can't do it, not at the speed it needs to be done. Unless the corp is run by Steve Jobs that is, and I wouldn't wish that on anyone.
And by the way, I'm happy with my G2, suck and all:-)
I just want it to be a lot better, and I'm willing to help make that happen.
The difference is that I didn't tell the stories on/. and everyone has stories from past employers. The making the stories public was the point.
The above stories are all public. I have plenty of private stories about Google, none of which you are going to hear whether good or bad. BTW, don't be shy about using your real name. Some people will hate you for speaking your mind, and my life advice to you is: never work for one of those, it's not worth it.
Let's be clear. I still think Google is a great company and I still have not sold a single one of my respectable stack of Google shares. Stayed with it through thick and thin, and now thankfully we're back to the thick and I'm still not selling. However... Google is a great disappointment compared to what it could if it actually walked the walk that it talks, and compared to what it still could be. This saddens me greatly and I criticize in the hope that some good can come of it.
Certainly, nothing good can come from ignoring the creeping rot that has set in at MTV in many ways. Ignore that and you eventually follow in the footsteps of Microsoft, with only the entrenched management winning and all else including shareholders, employees and customers losing.
Brilliant suggestion: buy a Nexus One. Best phone you can get right now. If you buy one of these locked down Android phones and whine about it, it's your own fault, and you are voting with your dollars for carriers to lock phones down. You are now part of the problem. Be part of the solution instead.
My G2 was rooted the day I got it and will soon be permarooted. This time, Google's weak kneed posture with respect to HTC's and T-Mobile's mean spirited abuse of the open source gift they have been given will come to no harm. Next time might be different. All the ISP's, the Android manfacturers, and especially Google, need to be put on notice that their open source rocket may fizzle and fall back to earth if they don't get a clue.
Why not get a Nexus one? It doesn't satisfy my hardware needs.
It's pretty sad you believe that. For one, if you'd like a phone that lets you reflash the OS you are welcome to buy a Nexus One [blogspot.com] direct from Google. The nature of open source code means that the phones made entirely by HTC may do things you disagree with. But that's openness for you. Sometimes people will do things you disagree with. It would be fairly pointless to have an open source OS if Google had veto power over every way in which it was used.
I believe you missed the part where the Google trademark is stamped all over the T-Mobile G2. If you do not think that gives Google veto power over evil additional restrictions on the distribution of GPL software, you did not think very hard.
If they were really as cynical as you believe, they wouldn't have ensured Android was open source and the Nexus One was reflashable out of the box would they?
Eric and Larray are plentycynical by any objective measure. Sorry if you're too tanked up on koolaid to see it. Want another one? How about the posturing on carbon credits in context with their 767 pleasure buggy parked across the street at the air base? How about the blatant nepotism?
I don't really know a lot about Sergy, but I had plenty of occasion to note that Larry and Eric are both pretty "flexible" when it comes to morals versus money versus power. Sad, it certainly did not have to be that way. That said, Google is nowhere near as far gone as Microsoft, or Oracle say. And EMG certainly does recognize the value of getting the open source community to do their heavy lifting for them. It's not like full time Googler's actually have the stomache for hard work any more.
One of the reasons sun failed was that despite the fact that they came up with all the Java standards, the reference implementation and industry leader for most of them elsewhere
That may be one reason, but don't forget that much of Java was grandiosely and stupidly overengineered to the point of suffering so much bloat as to make the platform undesirable for many or most possible uses. Besides Sun's inability to just let go and let the community fix the braindamage.
Maybe fixing some of the crappy base functionality that come with the phone and can't be replaced by normal apps? For example, the alarm clock that wouldn't stop ringing until I pulled the battery. And countless other major warts that Google is not doubt horribly embarrassed about, but not so embarrassed as to fix or take patches for.
Allow me to make a suggestion. Pressure Google. The Google logo is writ large on this HTC/T-Mobile phone. Google is more responsible for the evil lack of respect for the free software this phone is built with than anybody else.
Make it known to any Google representative who will listen (warning: these are few and far between) that you regard the company as hypocritical and cynical, and not worthy of your trust unless the rights of owners of phones running Android/Linux are fully respected.
And yes, I know all about Google and cynical, after all I worked there for three years and had plenty of opportunity to observe Google management up close. Google is in fact just another cynical megacorp, however it is slightly unusual in that its stock will suffer greatly if its users ever become widely aware of this fact. Therefore, Google tends to be slightly more responsive to justifiable criticism than other cynical megacorps.
Last time I checked, 80% of all OO.o contributions were from people paid by Sun.
And now none of them are because there is no more Sun. Of the former Sun employees who now draw a paycheck from Oracle, I fully expect that a goodly number are considering their options at this very moment. I do not doubt that some of them will find better positions with one of the more community oriented player. Regardless, now that the heavy hand of Sun bureaucracy is removed from the code base the fun factor of the project should improve tremendously.
Why would a company just sit in the corner quietly letting the community distrust them
Perhaps it is because Larry Ellison is a self obsessed monomaniac who believes that because he has succeeded in the past, everything he does now must be right.
Are we sure we want Android taking over all of that? I don't. I think a single OS dominating is a bad idea - like growing nothing but potatoes. I'd like to see Android doing SOME of that.
But now by constraining the floating point part to a certain range and adding an integer part what you have effectively accomplished is reinventing fixed point.
Not at all, you have just been responsible and managed your accuracy properly.
After spending extra time coding and using twice as much space.
You will spend a lot of time getting it right either way. Fixed point does have a perceptible advantage in compactness but not a factor of two, just compare the representations. On the whole, I prefer taking the extra time and working with integers to get the performance advantages, however when it does not matter or when I'm in a hurry I tend to just do the easiest thing which is usually floating point.
floating point would been fine near the middle, but have been accurate to only 0.8 meters near the edge
So don't do it that way. Use integer coordinates to reference terrain cells, then floating point to draw within the cell. Avoid subtracting from points that are far away, whether using floating point or integer.
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Yes, it seems like there is more suck that doesn't suck in Android. Frankly I'm flabbergasted that with the amount of resources available to Android project before and after being acquired by Google that the end product consists of so much suck. Or, actually I'm just pretending to be flabbergasted because I know exactly what happened: Android was way under resourced before being acquired by Google, and after they were way over managed and, overmeetinged, over facedtimed, and overfed (see infinite free junk food).
For this is the way with Google, or any big organization really. Much more organizing than working. Improving Android therefore must be done by the community. Google needs to do more to facilitate this. This is much easier, cheaper and faster than attempting to have Google's smart people do the work. The problem with Google's smart people is, they are so smart they are extremely good at avoiding work. Not much working for the love of it there, I'm afraid.
Only the outside community can provide the kind of motivation and creativity that will seal Android's success. A megacorp can't do it, not at the speed it needs to be done. Unless the corp is run by Steve Jobs that is, and I wouldn't wish that on anyone.
And by the way, I'm happy with my G2, suck and all :-)
I just want it to be a lot better, and I'm willing to help make that happen.
The difference is that I didn't tell the stories on /. and everyone has stories from past employers. The making the stories public was the point.
The above stories are all public. I have plenty of private stories about Google, none of which you are going to hear whether good or bad. BTW, don't be shy about using your real name. Some people will hate you for speaking your mind, and my life advice to you is: never work for one of those, it's not worth it.
Let's be clear. I still think Google is a great company and I still have not sold a single one of my respectable stack of Google shares. Stayed with it through thick and thin, and now thankfully we're back to the thick and I'm still not selling. However... Google is a great disappointment compared to what it could if it actually walked the walk that it talks, and compared to what it still could be. This saddens me greatly and I criticize in the hope that some good can come of it.
Certainly, nothing good can come from ignoring the creeping rot that has set in at MTV in many ways. Ignore that and you eventually follow in the footsteps of Microsoft, with only the entrenched management winning and all else including shareholders, employees and customers losing.
Brilliant suggestion: buy a Nexus One. Best phone you can get right now. If you buy one of these locked down Android phones and whine about it, it's your own fault, and you are voting with your dollars for carriers to lock phones down. You are now part of the problem. Be part of the solution instead.
My G2 was rooted the day I got it and will soon be permarooted. This time, Google's weak kneed posture with respect to HTC's and T-Mobile's mean spirited abuse of the open source gift they have been given will come to no harm. Next time might be different. All the ISP's, the Android manfacturers, and especially Google, need to be put on notice that their open source rocket may fizzle and fall back to earth if they don't get a clue.
Why not get a Nexus one? It doesn't satisfy my hardware needs.
Java certainly has a few legacy issues from being the first byte code language...
Java was far from the first byte code language and has always suffered from having an inefficient byte code interpreter.
Come on, Java not bloated? Then why do the lights dim whenever I start up a Java application?
It's pretty sad you believe that. For one, if you'd like a phone that lets you reflash the OS you are welcome to buy a Nexus One [blogspot.com] direct from Google. The nature of open source code means that the phones made entirely by HTC may do things you disagree with. But that's openness for you. Sometimes people will do things you disagree with. It would be fairly pointless to have an open source OS if Google had veto power over every way in which it was used.
I believe you missed the part where the Google trademark is stamped all over the T-Mobile G2. If you do not think that gives Google veto power over evil additional restrictions on the distribution of GPL software, you did not think very hard.
If they were really as cynical as you believe, they wouldn't have ensured Android was open source and the Nexus One was reflashable out of the box would they?
Eric and Larray are plenty cynical by any objective measure. Sorry if you're too tanked up on koolaid to see it. Want another one? How about the posturing on carbon credits in context with their 767 pleasure buggy parked across the street at the air base? How about the blatant nepotism?
I don't really know a lot about Sergy, but I had plenty of occasion to note that Larry and Eric are both pretty "flexible" when it comes to morals versus money versus power. Sad, it certainly did not have to be that way. That said, Google is nowhere near as far gone as Microsoft, or Oracle say. And EMG certainly does recognize the value of getting the open source community to do their heavy lifting for them. It's not like full time Googler's actually have the stomache for hard work any more.
One of the reasons sun failed was that despite the fact that they came up with all the Java standards, the reference implementation and industry leader for most of them elsewhere
That may be one reason, but don't forget that much of Java was grandiosely and stupidly overengineered to the point of suffering so much bloat as to make the platform undesirable for many or most possible uses. Besides Sun's inability to just let go and let the community fix the braindamage.
What does rooting the Android accomplish?
Maybe fixing some of the crappy base functionality that come with the phone and can't be replaced by normal apps? For example, the alarm clock that wouldn't stop ringing until I pulled the battery. And countless other major warts that Google is not doubt horribly embarrassed about, but not so embarrassed as to fix or take patches for.
So what then is your suggestion?
Allow me to make a suggestion. Pressure Google. The Google logo is writ large on this HTC/T-Mobile phone. Google is more responsible for the evil lack of respect for the free software this phone is built with than anybody else.
Make it known to any Google representative who will listen (warning: these are few and far between) that you regard the company as hypocritical and cynical, and not worthy of your trust unless the rights of owners of phones running Android/Linux are fully respected.
And yes, I know all about Google and cynical, after all I worked there for three years and had plenty of opportunity to observe Google management up close. Google is in fact just another cynical megacorp, however it is slightly unusual in that its stock will suffer greatly if its users ever become widely aware of this fact. Therefore, Google tends to be slightly more responsive to justifiable criticism than other cynical megacorps.
Oracle is the new Microsoft. Java is the new C#.
There is a lot of love and respect for HP among nerds.
There was at one time, before Carly and Hurd, and while the illustrious founders were still alive. Speaking as a nerd.
LibreOffice will need a way to make money eventually or forever be dependent on having key salaries paid by big corporations.
...and individual donors, like any other foundation?
Last time I checked, 80% of all OO.o contributions were from people paid by Sun.
And now none of them are because there is no more Sun. Of the former Sun employees who now draw a paycheck from Oracle, I fully expect that a goodly number are considering their options at this very moment. I do not doubt that some of them will find better positions with one of the more community oriented player. Regardless, now that the heavy hand of Sun bureaucracy is removed from the code base the fun factor of the project should improve tremendously.
I just want to use something that WORKs and that is NOT from MS.
And the rest of us would additionally prefer that it not be from Oracle. Speaking for the rest of us.
But maybe Oracle will surprise us all and do the right thing.
Maybe Larry Ellison will get a personality transplant.
will the free fork progress more than the Oracle fork?
Yes, just as X.org eclipsed XFree86.org
As open as Android allegedly is, most devices I know of do not allow this sort of pick and choose approach.
Yet.
He apparently hates Linux as well. Is there anything he doesn't hate? Oh right, he doesn't hate Larry.
Why would a company just sit in the corner quietly letting the community distrust them
Perhaps it is because Larry Ellison is a self obsessed monomaniac who believes that because he has succeeded in the past, everything he does now must be right.
In other words, a better OS than Android would be something even more open, like Linux.
Android is Linux?
Are we sure we want Android taking over all of that? I don't. I think a single OS dominating is a bad idea - like growing nothing but potatoes. I'd like to see Android doing SOME of that.
Good point, we should add some MSDos to the mix.
More likely, the power was interrupted.
But now by constraining the floating point part to a certain range and adding an integer part what you have effectively accomplished is reinventing fixed point.
Not at all, you have just been responsible and managed your accuracy properly.
After spending extra time coding and using twice as much space.
You will spend a lot of time getting it right either way. Fixed point does have a perceptible advantage in compactness but not a factor of two, just compare the representations. On the whole, I prefer taking the extra time and working with integers to get the performance advantages, however when it does not matter or when I'm in a hurry I tend to just do the easiest thing which is usually floating point.
floating point would been fine near the middle, but have been accurate to only 0.8 meters near the edge
So don't do it that way. Use integer coordinates to reference terrain cells, then floating point to draw within the cell. Avoid subtracting from points that are far away, whether using floating point or integer.
if you're hoping to set a protocol standard with it, you'll need to get a lot better at politics.
That's your job.