Now I'm doing j2ee programming... mostly financial applications. There is a lot of interaction with the business people, and requirements are quite often fluid. I doubt the business and sales people are going to want to come into work at 1am to conference call over to India to hash out the latest requirements.
If you think it's the American managers that are going to go out of their way to interact with the Indians you're out of your mind. I work for one of the largest banks in America and they are outsourcing to India like a sieve.
"I started thinking," he says, "there are 6 billion pairs of feet walking around this planet, and there are about 2 million people in the United States in wheelchairs - 6 billion versus 2 million, 6 billion versus 2 million." He never finishes the thought, but the conclusion seems obvious.
Yes, it does. There are 6 billion people on this planet, and 2 million of them need a wheelchair. There are 6 billion people on this planet, how many of them need a Segway? The implied comparison of 6 billion against 2 million hightlights in the most ironic way possible the hyperbolic fantasy that is Mr. Kamen's world.
Slashdot has a double standard. On one hand, it is ok when a 14-year-old violates the copyright of a RIAA or MPAA-owned company. On the other hand, it is not OK when a company releases GPL under terms not compatible with the GPL.
Yes, exactly, information wants to be free! That is the definition of the GPL. Man you're dumb.
This is why I fear the removal of the analogy section from the SATs. More than one person is generally allowed to share a connection. Why does it matter if that other person is my brother or my neighbor?
I enjoy it, but my true satisfaction with the art of programming comes from design (architecting would be the buzzword, I suppose), not implementation. Or rather, implementing my designs instead of implementing someone else's.
Since you're almost done with your degree, I'd suggest you go ahead and get it. I dropped out midway through my sophomore year but fortunately haven't suffered from my missing papers. If you do drop out, expect to get some very low paying jobs at first. If you're talented, though, I believe you'll rise to the top. If you're not...well, then you better get that degree.
I remember when Al Gore expressed sorrow that Bill Gates dropped out of college because if he hadn't, he would be twice as wealthy.
Your friends are laughing at you because, although using the keyboard "feels" faster, nonetheless you [asktog.com] are [asktog.com] wrong.
Any keyboard shortcut is going to be orders of magnitude quicker than moving your hand off of the keyboard, to the mouse, moving the mouse, cliking on the mouse button, and bringing your hand back to the keyboard.
(From tog...)It takes two seconds to decide upon which special-function key to press. Deciding among abstract symbols is a high-level cognitive function. Not only is this decision not boring, the user actually experiences amnesia! Real amnesia! The time-slice spent making the decision simply ceases to exist.
Amnesia? That entire article is pulled out of his ass. Two seconds? Um, it doesn't take me two seconds to remember to hit CTRL-C or ALT-TAB. Period. It is neither boring nor fascinating to choose a keyboard shortcut as the time taken approaches zero.
They probably rejected it because it's dull. And you're really obnoxious to get your voice heard. Maybe you should go to kuro5hin.org if that's what you want.
I think people who don't like reading e-books have never tried it.
Perhaps I haven't read any e-books. Perhaps I have no intention of ever doing so--for precisely the reasons expounded by the person you replied to: "[people want] the weight of a good book in their hand, and honestly have some kind of tactile fixation with page turning."
So what's your point? That people should go out and try new things? Sure, we all agree with that. But still, people who think they want tactile feedback a la a paper book aren't going to entertain the notion of not having a paper book. Myself, I like to hoard. It gives me a stupid ego trip that I can't quite figure out. I enjoy proudly displaying my collection of books that are Good to whomever might pay me a visit to my abode.
Quite. For some "good" and "insightful" analysis that isn't oozing with derision akin to that of Penfield's and that of the rest of the the/. community, check out Salon's take on the news. It is far more unbiased and takes an honest look at what the ruling means by asking a variety of different "experts".
On a side note, "Still, a small degree of celebration is fair. The tags are out of our browsers for the time being. That is progress, real progress." What is all the fuss about smart tags? From everything I've read about them they seem like a very novel and useful new idea.
"Not to put too fine a point on it, but we have been conditioned to believe that we have the right to be charged the same price as the next guy, for goods and services that we buy. This is simply not the case."
It really all depends on the criteria being used. In the auto-insurance industry, many different demographic statistics are used to determine how much to charge an individual customer. However, none of these statistics should ever be allowed to seem bigoted (except, it seems, for gender). (i.e. race, sexual orientation, religious orientation, etc.) So, they can charge you more if you live in L.A. (trust me, they do) and less if you live in Green Bay. They can also charge you more for a red sports car or for being male. But they can't charge you more because you're black or white, dumb or smart, an athiest or protestent, straight or gay, etc.
I don't believe there are any regulatory laws in place to keep them from utilizing those types of statistics (My dad does this for a living, and if it were up to him, he'd use any and all criteria, including race, income, whatever. Bah!) but if an insurance company were ever caught doing so, they'd probably suffer from quite a massive publicity scandal.
In short, if a consumer is being charged more for a quality for which they can do something about, that quantity should be fair game to be used for determining how much to charge him or her. However, if they get charged more for something innate (like, for example, their DNA) then most people would bitch.
I personally think Jon Katz is a fine writer. You have to admit, though, he has more than a small tendency towards melodrama. I mean, for Christ's sake we're talking about a commentary on the concept of publishing to more than one medium. Gee wizz wow sha bang a boo! Stay tuned next week for a lengthy dissertation on how [Insert hot new technology buzzword or nostalgic buzzword of yore] will soon take over the world. (or at least the 'net, but to Katz--same diff)
"This does leave a mark on a person, but ultimately, most of our genuises don't fit in anyhow, why should we start making them do so?"
Don't you think the learning of social behavior is as important to our geniuses as it is to you and I? I think you learn best when you are young. And the complex group dynamics present in public schools provide the single most important value for raising our children: Variety!
Your analogies don't work with a game whose success is dependent on the number of users actively playing it. Quake 2 could be released without fear that it might squash the original Quake because if it did, who cares? If, after Quake 2 was released, a hundred thousand gamers were playing Quake 2 and a mere thousand were left playing Quake 1, it wouldn't really matter.
On the other hand, if EA released UO2 and the vast majority left UO1, then keeping UO1 running would probably be unprofitable. But if they just ditched all their current users that wanted to stay, they could have some massive publicity problems.
In other words, with MMORPGs, sequels do, in fact, directly and negatively compete with the originals.
This is not to say that they shouldn't bite the bullet of course and continue to uh, innovate, but there are some negative consequences that need to be considered.
Slashdot Mirror
I've spent 10+ years writing VB code
You're getting on an intellectual high horse sneering down at web monkeys from the vantage point of a VB programmer? Oh the irony.
Now I'm doing j2ee programming ... mostly financial applications. There is a lot of interaction with the business people, and requirements are quite often fluid. I doubt the business and sales people are going to want to come into work at 1am to conference call over to India to hash out the latest requirements.
If you think it's the American managers that are going to go out of their way to interact with the Indians you're out of your mind. I work for one of the largest banks in America and they are outsourcing to India like a sieve.
Sad as it is, we're all thieves when we get the chance.
On the contrary, Apple's success proves that we're all honest consumers when given the chance.
"I started thinking," he says, "there are 6 billion pairs of feet walking around this planet, and there are about 2 million people in the United States in wheelchairs - 6 billion versus 2 million, 6 billion versus 2 million." He never finishes the thought, but the conclusion seems obvious.
Yes, it does. There are 6 billion people on this planet, and 2 million of them need a wheelchair. There are 6 billion people on this planet, how many of them need a Segway? The implied comparison of 6 billion against 2 million hightlights in the most ironic way possible the hyperbolic fantasy that is Mr. Kamen's world.
Information wants to be free!
Slashdot has a double standard. On one hand, it is ok when a 14-year-old violates the copyright of a RIAA or MPAA-owned company. On the other hand, it is not OK when a company releases GPL under terms not compatible with the GPL.
Yes, exactly, information wants to be free! That is the definition of the GPL. Man you're dumb.
This is why I fear the removal of the analogy section from the SATs. More than one person is generally allowed to share a connection. Why does it matter if that other person is my brother or my neighbor?
His entire argument for his grand unified UI theory is that consistency increases productivity.
So?
Efficiency should hardly be the only basis for UI design. Imagine if they applied that philosophy to cars or clothing.
-acidboy
I enjoy it, but my true satisfaction with the art of programming comes from design (architecting would be the buzzword, I suppose), not implementation. Or rather, implementing my designs instead of implementing someone else's.
Since you're almost done with your degree, I'd suggest you go ahead and get it. I dropped out midway through my sophomore year but fortunately haven't suffered from my missing papers. If you do drop out, expect to get some very low paying jobs at first. If you're talented, though, I believe you'll rise to the top. If you're not...well, then you better get that degree.
I remember when Al Gore expressed sorrow that Bill Gates dropped out of college because if he hadn't, he would be twice as wealthy.
-acidboy
Any keyboard shortcut is going to be orders of magnitude quicker than moving your hand off of the keyboard, to the mouse, moving the mouse, cliking on the mouse button, and bringing your hand back to the keyboard.
(From tog...)It takes two seconds to decide upon which special-function key to press. Deciding among abstract symbols is a high-level cognitive function. Not only is this decision not boring, the user actually experiences amnesia! Real amnesia! The time-slice spent making the decision simply ceases to exist.
Amnesia? That entire article is pulled out of his ass. Two seconds? Um, it doesn't take me two seconds to remember to hit CTRL-C or ALT-TAB. Period. It is neither boring nor fascinating to choose a keyboard shortcut as the time taken approaches zero.
-acidboy
Tolkien != WTC
They probably rejected it because it's dull. And you're really obnoxious to get your voice heard. Maybe you should go to kuro5hin.org if that's what you want.
acidboy
Perhaps I haven't read any e-books. Perhaps I have no intention of ever doing so--for precisely the reasons expounded by the person you replied to: "[people want] the weight of a good book in their hand, and honestly have some kind of tactile fixation with page turning."
So what's your point? That people should go out and try new things? Sure, we all agree with that. But still, people who think they want tactile feedback a la a paper book aren't going to entertain the notion of not having a paper book. Myself, I like to hoard. It gives me a stupid ego trip that I can't quite figure out. I enjoy proudly displaying my collection of books that are Good to whomever might pay me a visit to my abode.
-acidboy
Quite. For some "good" and "insightful" analysis that isn't oozing with derision akin to that of Penfield's and that of the rest of the the /. community, check out Salon's take on the news. It is far more unbiased and takes an honest look at what the ruling means by asking a variety of different "experts".
On a side note, "Still, a small degree of celebration is fair. The tags are out of our browsers for the time being. That is progress, real progress." What is all the fuss about smart tags? From everything I've read about them they seem like a very novel and useful new idea.
-acidboy
"Not to put too fine a point on it, but we have been conditioned to believe that we have the right to be charged the same price as the next guy, for goods and services that we buy. This is simply not the case."
It really all depends on the criteria being used. In the auto-insurance industry, many different demographic statistics are used to determine how much to charge an individual customer. However, none of these statistics should ever be allowed to seem bigoted (except, it seems, for gender). (i.e. race, sexual orientation, religious orientation, etc.) So, they can charge you more if you live in L.A. (trust me, they do) and less if you live in Green Bay. They can also charge you more for a red sports car or for being male. But they can't charge you more because you're black or white, dumb or smart, an athiest or protestent, straight or gay, etc.
I don't believe there are any regulatory laws in place to keep them from utilizing those types of statistics (My dad does this for a living, and if it were up to him, he'd use any and all criteria, including race, income, whatever. Bah!) but if an insurance company were ever caught doing so, they'd probably suffer from quite a massive publicity scandal.
In short, if a consumer is being charged more for a quality for which they can do something about, that quantity should be fair game to be used for determining how much to charge him or her. However, if they get charged more for something innate (like, for example, their DNA) then most people would bitch.
-acidboy
I personally think Jon Katz is a fine writer. You have to admit, though, he has more than a small tendency towards melodrama. I mean, for Christ's sake we're talking about a commentary on the concept of publishing to more than one medium. Gee wizz wow sha bang a boo! Stay tuned next week for a lengthy dissertation on how [Insert hot new technology buzzword or nostalgic buzzword of yore] will soon take over the world. (or at least the 'net, but to Katz--same diff)
-acidboy
"This does leave a mark on a person, but ultimately, most of our genuises don't fit in anyhow, why should we start making them do so?"
Don't you think the learning of social behavior is as important to our geniuses as it is to you and I? I think you learn best when you are young. And the complex group dynamics present in public schools provide the single most important value for raising our children: Variety!
-acidboy
I see "help" like this all the time. People thinking that I must have accidentally put in the quotation marks. Which makes no sense.
acidboy
Nobody around here is clamoring for Win9X code. acidboy
Your analogies don't work with a game whose success is dependent on the number of users actively playing it. Quake 2 could be released without fear that it might squash the original Quake because if it did, who cares? If, after Quake 2 was released, a hundred thousand gamers were playing Quake 2 and a mere thousand were left playing Quake 1, it wouldn't really matter.
On the other hand, if EA released UO2 and the vast majority left UO1, then keeping UO1 running would probably be unprofitable. But if they just ditched all their current users that wanted to stay, they could have some massive publicity problems.
In other words, with MMORPGs, sequels do, in fact, directly and negatively compete with the originals.
This is not to say that they shouldn't bite the bullet of course and continue to uh, innovate, but there are some negative consequences that need to be considered.
-acidboy