Thanks for pointing that out... I just thought it was a weird typo. It didn't even occur to me, even though phi has been a favorite number of mine ever since I discovered some its amazing properties at random while playing with a calculator during math class.
Kids these days... if something looks weird, I have to remember to try reading it phonetically to figure out what they are trying to say.
... probably more like "rounded to the nearest 10,000 light years".
There is no practical use for this many digits, but math boffins can have lots of fun studying the string of digits. If it turns out they truly aren't random, a lot of interesting and important things we thought we knew are wrong.
But from what I've read, it seems they are truly random, as far as we can tell.
Practical application? Perhaps not. But you can study the string of digits to make sure it is truly random, as theory predicts. If the digits of pi do turn out to have a pattern to them, then a lot of interesting and important things we think we know about math are wrong.
What original thought did Microsoft have 10 years ago? Even 20 or 30? Microsoft has actually built some good software on occasion, but they have never had an original thought since Bill Gates wrote a BASIC interpreter on paper tape in 1975.
Actually, MSR has plenty of original thoughts, but what just like Vegas, whatever happens in MSR stays in MSR.
You have obviously not worked at a typical company. At a typical medium to large company, stating things diplomatically and constructively will still get management pissed off at you and subject you to vindictive behavior. It's not the engineers you need to worry about, it's the spoiled-brat arrested adolescents that pass for middle to upper management. In my experience doing anything but parroting exactly what they say is a recipe for trouble. Needless to say, I get in trouble, because these same people are usually idiots.
Good luck. I would rather have heard from someone who can provide evidence for the contrary: An environment where healthy discussion and disagreement are welcomed and consensus can be built among reasonable people with differing views and opinions that takes into account the short-term, the long-term and every other important consideration, rather than just fiat from on high regardless of what actually makes sense.
Any organization absolutely needs a leader who makes the final decision, but unless that leader is also the biggest and most experienced expert in every field in which he is making decisions, which is virtually impossible, he'd better be listening to everyone who is, and making informed decisions without regard to ego, CYA, short-term gains at the expense of all else, unbridled self-interest and all the other deep vices that pass for "management" in too many organizations (especially big corporations and the government) these days.
The problem with this kind of thinking is that more and more the "evil boss" is becoming the norm. It might not be your immediate boss... in fact, it's less likely to be, but in my experience, it's more and more common that somewhere between your boss and the top, there will be some vindictive bastard with an exaggerated sense of self-importance who will make you pay for it. The same happens to people who voice a contrary opinion, no matter how diplomatic and constructive.
Therefore, if you find yourself in a situation where you don't like the direction things are going, or decisions are frequently made where your input is ignored and it turns out you were right... the only logical choice is to leave.
My natural instinct has always been towards loyalty, but the people and organizations that value loyalty, or who would exercise it themselves, are becoming more and more rare.
You need to ask yourself this: If the situations were reversed, would the company dump you like a week-old fish? If your answer is anything but a firm "No", then you owe them loyalty only to the point where it puts you at a disadvantage. I'm not advocating a "screw them before they screw you", but just pointing out that more and more, no one is going to look out for you but yourself, and if you are willing to give loyalty, that's great, but if you expect it back, you're a fool.
Apple and iPad are slowly, but surely, fracturing Microsoft's monopoly. When "does it run Windows apps?" becomes irrelevant, because you can do what you want to do and need to do on any platform, Microsoft's whole house of cards will start collapsing.
It will be years yet, but MS is losing its monopoly, and that's all it has. Being a cheat and bully is all they know how to do now.
But they still could. They are still in the console game, which they joined way late and against competitors that were hugely successful, and in the case of Nintendo, had decades of market dominance.
And in one of the rare instances where MS actually did release a cool, innovative product, they showed with Kinect that they can actually exert a little technical prowess once in a while. Even if the X-Box is still in the red, they are still in the game, and since it's still around, they believe it's a market still worth pursuing. You and I could be having the same discussion about Windows tablets or phones in 5 years. These hypothetical products might also not yet be profitable, but MS can buy its way into any market, at least for a few more years.
Microsoft can still afford to be late to the game by virtue of the fact that they can throw 11 figures behind anything they want to be successful. It worked with the X-Box, and from what I understand (never having used one), it's actually a pretty decent product. Their days of being able to do this are hopefully numbered, but I have no doubts that in a couple years MS will have a significant, if not huge, market share of tablets and phones even if their offerings are inferior to everything else.
Strongarming OEMs and vendor lock-in can buy a lot of market share. They've been doing this for decades; they're very good at it (almost to the exclusion of being good at anything else). Also, "No one ever got fired for buying Microsoft" is still true in many parts of the corporate world... especially the desktop. Plus, who knows how the patent wars will play out and while MS didn't used to play hardball in that arena, as their usual tactics start to diminish in effect, I have no doubts they will start playing the patent troll more and more, and they will be very good at it.
The 800-pound gorilla might be getting a little flabby, but it's still a gorilla and still 800 pounds.
Yeah, ELIZA passed the "Turing Test" for a significant number of people as well. I tried Cleverbot a bit and agree that it doesn't surpass those old IRC bots.
It wouldn't be empty with 35,000 Slashdotters moving in and it would be impossible to think with the heavy memeon flux. I mean every sentence would have to start with "In Soviet Russia..." and end with ", you insensitive clod." People wouldn't have discussions, they would just restate what each other said, changing a word or two and appending "FTFY." And they'd all be broke because no one has figured out the "???" step yet.
Slashdot Mirror
paging dan brown, paging dan brown
there's a bad book plot here somewhere
Sounds like a best seller to me.
You're _both_ right!
Good thing he will be speaking rather than writing... he'd probably spell it "marshall".
Ballmer has bones? I thought he was some species of flatworm.
Just like Windows is still implementing features that Unix has had for decades. Microsoft has a time machine too, they just use it wrong.
Hey, this is slashcode. It's still 1998 here.
Thanks for pointing that out... I just thought it was a weird typo. It didn't even occur to me, even though phi has been a favorite number of mine ever since I discovered some its amazing properties at random while playing with a calculator during math class.
Kids these days... if something looks weird, I have to remember to try reading it phonetically to figure out what they are trying to say.
Well, to be fair, they are always striving to make their own lives easier.
I am of German ancestry and I find the German mindset (minus the nationalism and the bad things that came from that) to be very appealing.
... probably more like "rounded to the nearest 10,000 light years".
There is no practical use for this many digits, but math boffins can have lots of fun studying the string of digits. If it turns out they truly aren't random, a lot of interesting and important things we thought we knew are wrong.
But from what I've read, it seems they are truly random, as far as we can tell.
Practical application? Perhaps not. But you can study the string of digits to make sure it is truly random, as theory predicts. If the digits of pi do turn out to have a pattern to them, then a lot of interesting and important things we think we know about math are wrong.
C'mon, I'm sure Ballmer has a nicer car than that.
Yeah, but I bet people actually buy stuff at the Apple stores.
What original thought did Microsoft have 10 years ago? Even 20 or 30? Microsoft has actually built some good software on occasion, but they have never had an original thought since Bill Gates wrote a BASIC interpreter on paper tape in 1975.
Actually, MSR has plenty of original thoughts, but what just like Vegas, whatever happens in MSR stays in MSR.
Definitely. Look at George Carlin. He made a career out of insightful rants.
You have obviously not worked at a typical company. At a typical medium to large company, stating things diplomatically and constructively will still get management pissed off at you and subject you to vindictive behavior. It's not the engineers you need to worry about, it's the spoiled-brat arrested adolescents that pass for middle to upper management. In my experience doing anything but parroting exactly what they say is a recipe for trouble. Needless to say, I get in trouble, because these same people are usually idiots.
Good luck. I would rather have heard from someone who can provide evidence for the contrary: An environment where healthy discussion and disagreement are welcomed and consensus can be built among reasonable people with differing views and opinions that takes into account the short-term, the long-term and every other important consideration, rather than just fiat from on high regardless of what actually makes sense.
Any organization absolutely needs a leader who makes the final decision, but unless that leader is also the biggest and most experienced expert in every field in which he is making decisions, which is virtually impossible, he'd better be listening to everyone who is, and making informed decisions without regard to ego, CYA, short-term gains at the expense of all else, unbridled self-interest and all the other deep vices that pass for "management" in too many organizations (especially big corporations and the government) these days.
The problem with this kind of thinking is that more and more the "evil boss" is becoming the norm. It might not be your immediate boss... in fact, it's less likely to be, but in my experience, it's more and more common that somewhere between your boss and the top, there will be some vindictive bastard with an exaggerated sense of self-importance who will make you pay for it. The same happens to people who voice a contrary opinion, no matter how diplomatic and constructive.
Therefore, if you find yourself in a situation where you don't like the direction things are going, or decisions are frequently made where your input is ignored and it turns out you were right... the only logical choice is to leave.
My natural instinct has always been towards loyalty, but the people and organizations that value loyalty, or who would exercise it themselves, are becoming more and more rare.
You need to ask yourself this: If the situations were reversed, would the company dump you like a week-old fish? If your answer is anything but a firm "No", then you owe them loyalty only to the point where it puts you at a disadvantage. I'm not advocating a "screw them before they screw you", but just pointing out that more and more, no one is going to look out for you but yourself, and if you are willing to give loyalty, that's great, but if you expect it back, you're a fool.
Apple and iPad are slowly, but surely, fracturing Microsoft's monopoly. When "does it run Windows apps?" becomes irrelevant, because you can do what you want to do and need to do on any platform, Microsoft's whole house of cards will start collapsing.
It will be years yet, but MS is losing its monopoly, and that's all it has. Being a cheat and bully is all they know how to do now.
But they still could. They are still in the console game, which they joined way late and against competitors that were hugely successful, and in the case of Nintendo, had decades of market dominance.
And in one of the rare instances where MS actually did release a cool, innovative product, they showed with Kinect that they can actually exert a little technical prowess once in a while. Even if the X-Box is still in the red, they are still in the game, and since it's still around, they believe it's a market still worth pursuing. You and I could be having the same discussion about Windows tablets or phones in 5 years. These hypothetical products might also not yet be profitable, but MS can buy its way into any market, at least for a few more years.
Microsoft can still afford to be late to the game by virtue of the fact that they can throw 11 figures behind anything they want to be successful. It worked with the X-Box, and from what I understand (never having used one), it's actually a pretty decent product. Their days of being able to do this are hopefully numbered, but I have no doubts that in a couple years MS will have a significant, if not huge, market share of tablets and phones even if their offerings are inferior to everything else.
Strongarming OEMs and vendor lock-in can buy a lot of market share. They've been doing this for decades; they're very good at it (almost to the exclusion of being good at anything else). Also, "No one ever got fired for buying Microsoft" is still true in many parts of the corporate world... especially the desktop. Plus, who knows how the patent wars will play out and while MS didn't used to play hardball in that arena, as their usual tactics start to diminish in effect, I have no doubts they will start playing the patent troll more and more, and they will be very good at it.
The 800-pound gorilla might be getting a little flabby, but it's still a gorilla and still 800 pounds.
I think the ribbon is fine... it's every other aspect of Office that I find to be nightmarishly awful.
Yeah, ELIZA passed the "Turing Test" for a significant number of people as well. I tried Cleverbot a bit and agree that it doesn't surpass those old IRC bots.
Will it really mean more jobs in the 'green energy' sector?
No, but it will mean lots of new jobs in the French nuclear industry when Germany has to ask them in desperation to buy power.
It wouldn't be empty with 35,000 Slashdotters moving in and it would be impossible to think with the heavy memeon flux. I mean every sentence would have to start with "In Soviet Russia..." and end with ", you insensitive clod." People wouldn't have discussions, they would just restate what each other said, changing a word or two and appending "FTFY." And they'd all be broke because no one has figured out the "???" step yet.
There isn't. On the other hand, has any of the really cool and innovative stuff made at MR ever made it into an actual shipping product?
Like I said elsewhere, ribbon or menu, you're still using Word and there's no UI that could make that steaming pile worth using.