Marc Andreessen pretty much nails my current sentiment about our industry. Yet, as many have stated here already, 'We've got money to burn' prototype development aside, Software developmers are often still not treated very well. Which is why I'm quite confident in going freelance again, after leaving my last full-time employment.
Launching a startup costs chump-change nowadays (just cancled my last dedicated server - no need for that in the last 3,5 years) and ideas and problems to solve are a dime a dozen. We're right smack in the middle of the dawn of an age of cyberpunk, with all the ups and downs it that come with it. I intend to catch the big waves and avoid the downsides, and I expect the conditions for doing so are about as good as they can get for IT experts nowadays.
Steve Jobs in his last single interview with Walt Mossberg had a very good example of what is happening with IT right now. It basically goes like this:
The very first cars were trucks. The very first chariots humans built were to hawl food from A to B. They were utility vehicles. Only later, when the vehicles of each age became a commodity, did they turn into everyday passenger vehicles that had a certain mass-availability.
The computer now is doing the same thing, moving from being a tool for workers to being a commodity for everyday use by everyone, not just experts. Experts like us don't like that very much right now, but that's the way it goes. Bizarre IBM age keyboard layouts are finally becoming a thing of the past, UIs are becoming more task focused and the need for abstraction whilst using a 'Post-PC Device' is demising quickly. Even the mouse and the file-system is quickly fading into a specialist tool.
Everyday commodity computing is basically going the way of the iPad.
IT will move to a stronger separation of end-user and expert computing. Workstation-Laptops will become more rare and expensive, purpose built for programmers and admins to use them whilst tablet and netback devices will become a dime a dozen in all kinds of varieties. People won't look for actually performance but for brands of services. Sales talks like this: 'Can my device Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and Netflix?' 'No, it can only Twitter and Facebook, you need an upgrade to Netflix with it.' will become normal at the HiFi-Store or carrier outlet.
Some vendors like Apple, Nintendo or Sony will have a strong vertical lock-in with cushy comfort solutions that require upgrading every 3rd year, others will be more open and more utility focused.
Carriers will get into bed with hardware, software and service brands more often. I expect branding and mindshare to become even more important than today in many places. To emphasize: I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft moved to the Linux kernel in a few years time and nobody would really care or even notice.
Our kind will specialize more and the rich-client web will get a new boost - as it is happening right now - because the platform diversity mess will be very much 1980ies style also like it is right now again.
All in all I'm not to scared about the way of IT, crazy DRM & patents, Human Rights and eavesdropping laws aside. It's going to be just as interesting then as it is today.
My 2 cents.
The nutcases of wayback are todays smart classics
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The Post-Idea World
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· Score: 3, Informative
I think the problem here is that good essays and insights get lost in the everyday noise and only show their value as they persist over time and more and more people get to see the ingenuity and foresight in them.
I don't think Senecas letters were very famous back then or well know beyond a very small group of people (those he wrote them to). And I also am pretty sure that most citizens of the roman empire didn't care squat about a broad transcendent view on life beyond 'lets pray to jupiter as to win this racing bet'. It is only centuries latter that the quality stuff is still around whilst everyday drivel and non-sense go lost in time and replaced with todays everday drivel and non-sense. Thus we get the impression that back in Senecas time society was full of smart and witty politicians and philosophers making great speeches.
When people in 200 years look at todays Inet Tech era and read Paul Grahams essays - which will still exist while every techcrunch feed will have gone the way of the dodo - people will get the same impression. Lot's of very smart and educated people back then, everything today is degenerated, grand old masters, blabla, jadajada...
How on earth is this 'a pleasing way of uncovering system architecture'? 3D visuals? OK, I get that. However, I'd leave out crappy wall textures and 3rd grade FPS props and stick to abstract platonic and geoedic shapes with distinct colors, connected with various forms of lines and indexed with a cool looking 3D-enviroment-friendly font.... The pointy balls aside, I'd basically do pretty much everything exactly opposite of how they did the 3D.... This guy has it pretty much nailed in terms of 3D enviroment UI and data... since, like, 8 years ago or so.
The actual work I'd have scripts do, while I go and flirt with the helpdesk cutie over a latte.... As, errm, pretty much everybody does it today already, I might add.
What system analyser in his right mind is going to wave his hands around and shake his hips to lauch scanners and change views?? My fingers can do that way faster. And much cheaper.... And the technology is there allready.
Bottom line: Nothing new. Not so spectacular realisation. Way better solutions out there allready. No cookie!
Was navigating a car from the backseat, back from a night out. It's a town I don't live in and we often use a 'Navi' (german layman term equivalent of 'GPS' in the U.S.). However, the Navi was packed away, since I knew the way from the venue to where we were going. But I was chatting with the lady next to me and we missed a turn. It's been ages since, but I instantly went into 'landmark, neighbourhood and general direction' mode and we got to the destiny with barely any delay. And that was across a river, with another river nearby and on the other side of town.
I'd say navigating without artificial assistance is a skill like bicycle riding. Once learned you won't forget it. It's a also a lot about taking calculated risks. And I do remember turning pages in huge road atlases, cursing every time about how tedious the task of connecting one double-page to an adjacent is, and thinking up better methods. Alas, back then we did know the concepts, didn't we? But the technology just wasn't there or cheap enough. I figure you could build a decent Navi on my DOS Pocket PC from the early 90ies - only they weren't widespread enough for it to be feasable. Mercedes Benz had only started working on digital roadmaps, smaller flywheel compases and stuff a few years earlyer.
1st of all: Don't get all worked up. Nobody cares squat about your or your former employers web framework, of which there are literally thousands out there. Take the best parts of it, refactor them and contribute them to Zend, Symfony, Cake, Joomla, Drupal, Typo3 or some other big-time project that actually matters (asuming you wrote it in PHP) or something simular for the language chosen. If your Framework is worth anything, you'll be able to do that quickly and join the coreteam of some big-time FOSS webkit in no time and your credit will gain in weeks by orders of magnitude compared to working semi-free for some crappy freeloading web-outfit nobody has ever heard of for the last 5 years.
2nd: If they paid you to write it, chances are they own it, and can do with it as they like.
3rd: If you wrote it on their contract and in your free time and commited significant parts of goodwill into it without getting paid, chances are it's legally dual-licenced... or some equivalent of that. That means they can do with it whatever they want and you can go on and continue publishing it however you please.
But once again: Nobody gives a shit, so I wouldn't risk legal action from some small-business asshole I once was dealing with if they discover you and think it's sporting to go after some sorry-ass developer who has even less money and power than they. Unless, that is, you have money and time to spare and like to send a small private army of lawyers of yours their way - for fun or profit or both. In that case, be my guest, fetch a lawyer or two and sue them into next wednesday. And please keep us posted on our blog. I, in that case, for one, am going to sit back in my deckchair, grab a bag of popcorn and watch with joyfull glee and delight as some sleazy web-sweatshop gets what they deserve as they are gutted and torn to chunky kibbles by a righfully enraged FOSS deveper.:-)...
Yet again: Since I guess you've got neither money or extra time to spare, I'd let it be, cover my ass with legal statements on your ownage of the code from some buddies in case they want to get pissy with you in the future and then just carry on with your life. Preferably as a core member of some larger web project actually doing something usefull.
My 2 cents.
FYI: I too developed a FOSS product for a partner pulling in big time projects. We published it as FOSS and, since they brought in fair money, I agreed to dual-licence the code, which they didn't understand at the time. When we parted, they rebranded the product, removed my name, claimed an advancement over the old version - which didn't exsist, aside from a new logo and a flashy website - and disappeared into insignificance two years later. The codebase still is GPL 3 and I'm ready to continue with the product whenever I feel like it. I have witnesses to back my claims should anyone come after me. Which I really don't expect to happen, since I'm halfway cool and professional with my former partners. And I'd redo the codebase completely anyway if I should ever consider picking it up again.
Errrm,... Nature magazine? Just get a subscription. Sorry, but this seems so much like a blatantly obivious no-brainer to me.
The pains and necessity of moving to Git
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The Rise of Git
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· Score: 1
Me and my buddy are currently moving to Git as the center and foundation of our web development pipeline. And while I have to hand it to Linus that distributed is the way to go nowadays I also have to say that there are quite some obstacles when attempting the switch.
1st of all: For n00bs in Git or Versioning in general there is still a lack of 'hand-holding' when it comes to finding the correct strategy. Switchers do need a little help whilst on the way to noticing that their brain has been damaged by thinking in concepts of centralised versioning. For example it was a bit of a hassle to find a correct zero-fuss substitute for 'svn export' in Git. Export is needed for web development, especially in enviroment where not everything is handled by a CI server or a build system. Curiously enough, this problem forced us to understand Git better, in that everything that is considered a big deal in centralised enviroments like SVN is considered standard in-between/throwaway procedure in Git. Turns out best way for us to do an export in Git was to git clone a working tree, copy our deployment stuff and delete the entire cloned repository again.
2nd: Usability and real-world scenarios/examples of usage in the docs that take non-kernel development scenarios into concern. (This is simular but not exactly the same as point 1) While I have to admit, documentation is improving by leaps and bounds as we speak, there are still some gaps to close in this department. The PDF version of the Git book sucks and I still find the hurdles in understanding Git usage models and terminology to difficult to understand intuitively and not explained good enough for the versioning/decentralised layman.
3rd: Tooling. Tooling has improved massively in the last 2,5 years but as far as my spoiled ass can tell I could still use some neater FOSS Git Gui options than the ones available. Git Tower for Mac OS X is my benchmark here. It's an awesome commercial tool, but I'd like something like that in x-plattform FOSS.... Did I mention I consider myself spoiled?:-)
All in all I think in the recent Thin Client / SOA craze under a new name called 'cloud-computing' - which appears to finally catch on full scale - there is no alternative in moving to distributed versioning in order to keep your shit under control as a computer professional.
Might aswell use Git for that. I expect to have all my stuff - code and documents - versioned and pipelined by the end of the year, in multiple repositories and lingering cloned across various on- and offline drives, archived, backuped, stored and versioned. Completely independant of any computer I may be using at the time.
It that respect the pain of going Git full scale is more than worth it.
The issue with this "Chromebook", from my perspective, is that it manages to be as or more expensive(and no better in terms of battery life or weight/build quality) than an equivalent netbook/cheapie laptop.
I personally think the Chromebook along with the Google Online Cloudstuff has its niche already and stands a real chance at becoming the prime choice for household computing.
The first Chromebook from Samsung weighs 1.4 Kg and is roughly 2cm thick, if not thinner. It fits squarely into the MacBook Air carry-around pattern, whilst costing a fifth. For those who do 95% of their stuff online and know so little about computers they couldn't find a directory on an Thumbdrive - even with OS X Finder in 'stupid-mode', let alone know where to plug it in and how to unmount it before removal (99.999% of all users), the chromebook is a viable every-day computer.
If has the form, size and weight factor of a sleek MacBook Air, costs a fraction of that, has above 8 hours of uptime on battery, has zero hassles with installation and setup, needs no worrying or even knowing about such things as backup, software installation, sane security awareness and data-migrate-ability. All you need to know is how to log into something on the web, which most people do know nowadays.
For those who know what they're doing it's nearly trivially easy to hack a bash CLI onto it, with all the goodies you want.
Optical media aside - which we all agree will become full-scale obsolete any time soon - this would actually be a replacement I'd get my spouse if her iBook G4 breaks. She mostly surfs, does email and sometimes writes a letter. Nothing you can't do with the Google stuff. DVDs are the aforementioned exception to that, but as I see it Netflix, Lovefilm et al are standing ready to solve that even for the very latest of adopters.
And let's face it: I - and I gather most of you too - would take a Linux+Web based Google lockin over an Apple or MS lockin any time. No?
You got to hand it to them: These blackhat/lulz Hacker types sure do have some balls. I'd be scared shitless to pull such a stunt, even if I *did* have the information. I'd be super-ultra-extreme paranoid and cover my tracks many times over. I actually wouldn't know where to start when attemting that.
Probably something like this: 1. Multiple levels of undetected low-profile unix breakins to start off a botnet. 2. Multiple levels of botnets on top of that to finally hack the systems involved in the attack and breach, using totally different malware strategies as to go undetected among the usual hodge-podge of criminal botnets. 3. Low-profile IDS on all levels to scout for detection or suspicious tracing activity 24/7. 4. Encrypted, low-profile bit-by-bit intrusion and trickle-data-grab over weeks or months. 5. Complete rollback and teardown of the entire network with IDS remaining on the last lines of defense (see 1.) ready to send out signals if someone comes for you. 6. Wait. A long time. 7. Release data and press release over simularly complex channels.
Imagine what happens to you if the CIA or some other 3-letter blackops finds out where you're at. Your life is pretty much over then.
White, wet turbans. White wet clothing. You can use non-drinking water to soak the clothing. Even very warm water will help as it cools via evaporation.
Drink isotonic drinks at body temperature. If drinks are cold, the body produces more heat to cool the liquid down.
Don't forget minerals and vitamins. Minerals like regular table salt are important to keep the body going and the mood up, especially when people have been sweating a lot. Alcohol free beer, barley water and simular drinks are both isotonic and have the basic set of minerals. No soft-drinks or sugar. No alcohol. Rather drink less non-alcohol.
Full, lose clothing. Non-dark.
Important: If body-temperature is maxed out and people are at the edge of a sun-heat-stroke it is *always* better to be fully clothed. There is a reason why Bedus wear a Shesh. Also lose, long arms and lose long pant legs. It may feel warm for the layman, but body temperature eavens out at a high level with a full heat-shell rather than overheating in bare sunlight. Consider Baggy pants or Hakamas for both ladies and men.
Hand-fans. You can build those easyly with wire and cloth if they are lacking. Build them large, take turns faning slowly.
Rescue blankets. Dirt cheap and super efficient at repelling heat. Use them to build sun-tarps and tents.
Hats are better than sun-glasses.
Sun & Heat Optimsed Head Garb in order of efficiency: 1 Shesh / Turban 2 Sombrero / Chinese Rice-Straw 'Dish' Hat / Cowboy Hat 3 Light-colored Longsleve wrapped as Shesh (instructions on the web) 4 Leginoaires Cap with neck-cover / Safari Helmet
Butter can help the skin if sun-lotion is lacking and the skin isn't burnt yet. Don't butter damaged skin! Use curd to cool and replenish burnt skin. (consult a doctor, medical disclaimer, blah blah... y'know)
When cooling with cool-packs or ice apply the cool-packs at the lymph-nodes and don't let the sun at them. The human body has its own conditioning system and will spread the coolness to where it's needed the most from the lymph-nodes on out.
And last but not least: Good luck with your struggle. The thoughts of all of us are with you. And treat the egytian ladies fair! I'm looking forward to a time when the middle-east beauties can walk around free and are equal to men.
The reason I picked China as the example, is that China has made a conscious effort to control population. One couple, one child. Negative population growth, which should put China comfortably within the land's capability to support their population within the next 100 years or so. (Sorry, no, I haven't researched projected population figures - I'm just guesstimating that 100 years from now, China's population will be (very roughly) about 1/4 what it is today.)
And it will have a man/woman ratio of 1 to 0.6. Due to its one-child-policy the wealthy chinese are seeing to it that they give birth to men rather than women. Same problem with the middle-class in india and islam countries. That's what happens when you give high-tech to dumb and primitive people.
Same thing here as everywhere. It's barely 150 years ago that people in europe were seriously debating wether women have a soul and are fully qualified humans. And it's 60 years ago that they were trying to cleanse continent from 'underhumans'.
Sexophobia, sexism, superstition, sexual frustration and power-mongering on all levels of society, all over the f'cking planet. I sometimes feel like taking a huge army, invading every country on the planet and forcing some sanity into people at gunpoint. Maybe chopping of some really effed up heads along the way.... But then again, that wouldn't change anything, would it?
Ok, I think more than enough people here have done the best witty cracks on you asking on slashdot, on the web, on a saturday night, about going cold turkey on Inet access. So I'm going to skip that. And while it is true that the problem is your habits and your management of them - i personally have 'LEAVE YOUR COMFORT-ZONE', 'MANAGE YOUR HABITS' and 'LOW INFORMATION DIET' spelled out in big black-on-yellow signs on my desktop wallpaper - I do get that you consider going cold turkey on an uplink is a good option.
But here's the deal: I personally think you're cheating yourself if you replace an INet uplink with an intranet. If you want to quit the web in this day and age that's fine. But then you should quit all but the most rudimentary electronic media alltogether. Otherwise you'll just find yourself getting hooked on some other sort of techie-gadget stuff. Or TV. Which is way worse than the web, btw.
I've considered quiting on the screen-staring and going back to perfoming arts a few times since the beginning of the year, and it wouldn't be the worst option. However, I have to make a living and I have a daughter who needs my support and programming is the best way I can give her that, so it's computers all around again. If I were alone, I would have ditched the computer stuff allready, but I aint. So there you go.
You on the other hand should, if that's what you're all about - and so it seems, otherwise you wouldn't have asked - should unplug right now, turn off your comp, get off your ass, go out and start learning Kung-Fu, Aikido, playing the violin or Tango dancing or some other kind of thing that offers enough fullfilment for two lives. You will feel much better and lead a much more fulfilling life. Take that from someone who, as of three years ago, spends most his evenings out Tango dancing and away from the keyboard. Me sitting here on a saturday night and answering your/. question is a wide and far between exception these days.
Whatever you do, you should definitly *not* worry about setting up an intranet for a time after you've unplugged. That's just being stupid. Got get a life and don't look back.
The FCP X release is a screw-up the likes we have never seen from Apple since Steve Jobs arrived. Never. By Apples Standards, that is. And by these standards they will be measured, as it's the hard standards of media and software professionals from which Apple has gotten it's credit, ever since they did the switch to Unix.
I saw something like this coming.
Bertrand Serlet, lead of OS X. left in march. Check. XCode 4 only available via AppStore or ADC Subscription. Check. GNU CLI Toolkit only with XCode 4 and the hassles (see above). Check. iPad Software Distribution only via AppStore and Apples distribution pipeline. Check. FCP X a shoddy upgrade to an allready castrated iMovie... or something like that. Check.
Looks as if this will continue. Mark my words: There is an Apple disaster brewing, the likes we have never seen.
Mac Cube is a hiccup compared to this. Vertical LockIn hidden as Mass Appeasement will be Apples downfall as the darling child of professionals. FCP practically owned the market the last few years. This release has video pros all over the planet gasping in disbelief - and no, it has *NOTHING* to do with 'Designers taking over' or some other kind of bullshit. Good software has a well-designed UI and a good underpinning. This is just Apple forgetting where it got its huge success and releasing sub-standard software. A thing we are not used to from Apple. At least not in the professional media department.
This probably also has to do with Steve not being there full time anymore.
Whatever, I expect more of this in the future, and I wouldn't be suprised if my brand new MacBook Air turns out to be the last Apple device I bought.
That's because they're all busy playing Farmville on Facebook. The last numbers I heard were around 60 to 70% female players. That's with a game that lies north of 50 million active players. Sounds like a huge chunk of women having just the type of fun they need with the gaming industry.
Add in my daughter and her friends all hooked on Animal Crossing DS(i) I'd say the video gaming industry is doind just fine with the ladies.
It's kind of a shame. I thought this sort of crap would stay in Europe. Soccer Game riots are relatively frequent here in Europe, were as sports events in the U.S. and Canada have always seemed notably non-violent and family friendly. It's one of the few things that actually work way better across the pond than over here. Massive sport event riots is one thing the U.S. and Canada really shouldn't copy from Europe.
Sorry, but what rock have you been living under? The number one visual web development tool for more than a decade now has been and still is Dreamweaver. Dreamweaver is the reason Adobe dropped GoLive after aquiring Macromedia, since they didn't want two tools for the same segment under their roof. And it was the right decision to make Dreamweaver the prime choice.
If you need a visual web development tool, Dreamweaver is the way to go. If you're using a Mac, as I take you are, Freeway Pro and RapidWeaver are maybe alternatives.
Geekdom is about applied intellect, not intellectualism. In fact, I'd argue that it is precisely the opposite of intelectualism. Intellectualism is basically a bourgeoise exercise in brain farting, with no real effect on the world in general and no direct practical value to personal life. Geekish applied intellect on the other hand is the - more or less - systematic acquisition of skill and/or insight into the workings of the world around you. For the sake of, in the end, improving the world for oneself and others. In essence, it's the modern pinnacle of Stoicism... or its eastern variant, Zen Buddhism. Maybe with a tad more materialism, but basically that's it.
That in times like these, where knowledge is free and widely available and top-grade expertise is just a download away, I see no contradiction to geek intellect when the value of a college career is questioned every now and then.
And I see geek intellect only pro-actively up against intellectualism where the latter gets out of hand and places itself to far above the sort of intellect that actually 'gets the job done' contrary to just musing and bullshitting about things.
When it comes to electronic gaming, your daughter fits squarely into the Nintendo demografic. (As does mine, btw.)
Get her a used DS(i) and any of the Zelda Titles or aim for 'Dad of the year 2011' and shell out the money for a 3DS and the Zelda Title that comes with it. It's an Ocarina of Time remake, AFAICT. The 3DS costs 250$ / 225€, which is a bizar pricepoint for a childrens gadget, but I've seen it in action and have played with it a bit and you have to hand it to Nintendo: It *is* an awesome device. You'll be a "Dad of the decade" if you get yourself one too and play Mario Cart or some other multiplayer funtitle with her and her friends once in a while. I do that once in a while, it's a good unsuspicious way of peeking into the girly-clique mechanisims currently going on every once in a while.... And since my employer gave me a DSi for christmas I didn't need to buy it myself.... But then again, I'm also a game developer, so I've even got some extra "awesome cool dad" score with built-in bragging-rights for my sweetheart on top of that.:-)
One more advice on the Nintendo portables thing: Do think twice if you'll buy her some mini-social title like those of the "Animal Crossing". Those are freakishly addictve, as they press the right 'doll playing' buttons with pre-teen and teeny girls. You'll have to impose some rules if you introduce that to your little girl. As for Zelda, she'll probably ask you to help her out from time to time when she gets frustrated with some riddle. We report to each other on our progress every once in a while, which can be a nice conversation piece.
And expect a regular-basis ass-whooping in Mario Cart after half a year or so, once she gets the hang of it.... Just telling.:-)
This is nothing new. Seidle ( http://www.siedle.de/http://www.siedleusa.com/ ), a german manufacturer of door-intercom and locking systems has had this sort of thing in their programm since two decades ago or so. You could use a landline phone to answer your door-intercom. I'm pretty sure they have quite a few options for doing that with your cellphone aswell.
I'd urge you and anybody else involved in the decision to read Rework first.
There's a chapter in it called 'Everyone in the front lines'. The bottom line is, that everyone should be involved in directly solving the problems of those whos money the company is running on. I.E., the customers. Everyone should be scheduled in a few hours front-facing time, and if it only is in the companies callcenter or as a protocollist in a sales meeting.
I personally think in a company worth while working for everybody should know a bit about everything. At least the fun parts. Nobody needs to know the mess we go through when version X of software y doesn't run on system Z and we try to figure out what's wrong. The messy and tedious parts are for the pros of the field in question. Likewise I needn't know where exactly the janitor keeps the window cleaner and what a fuss it is to get the installation company to finish the newest CAT5 layout on schedule, but I should be able to operate the dishwasher and know where the stuff is I need to keep my desk and monitor clean. I also needn't know every single sales statistic in the industry and whether the market we're currently aiming for is worth the 15% discount our current pitch is demanding.
But I'd actually expect a CEO of a software company to be able to understand the difference between a web and a native client UI and the ups and downs of both. I'd also expect a programmer to know where the company he's working for is currently getting its money from, and whether his work is directly related to that or he's currently prototyping for the next round of products. And I'd expect him to know what colorful buttons or neat features the sales-team needs to be able outsell the competition or justify a version upgrade to existing customers.
In a Nutshell, I'd expect everybody in a company to actually give a shit. If that's not the case, then the politics and x-department bickering starts. That's usually the time to leave and look for a new job.
Yeah. Right. Total non-sense. German overreaction and wimpyness. The last time I heard that it was as german funds, banks and privateers were hesitant to invest in the US housing market.
Listen: This is the nation that had a significant influence in the invention of nuclear power. THEY INVENTED THE F*CKING STUFF! Nuclear plants all over the planet are run with german hightech. And yet, in this nation of Über-technologist, the effing government party, the CDU, well know to lube up and bend over for the industrial complex in general (and the gridpower giants in particular) whenever the occasion arises has concluded that
a) The risk is to high. b) The long-term costs hugely outweigh the benefits of nuclear power. c) Nobody, and I mean *NOBODY* can take on responsibility for their deadly toxic garbage for a time period of 50 000 years. d) There are no eternally safe storages for nulear waste. e) The existing safe storages for nuclear waste are leaking as we speak and the Atomaufsichtsbehörden have a huge f*cking problem on their hands. Which taxpayers will have to pay up for. d) It's easier than we thought to cover all power needs with renewable sources, *excluding* the burning of coal and/or oil.
They've shut down Kalkar, before it even was finished. There wasn't even a particularly huge protest wave about that one, compared to AKW Brokdorf. And yet they shut it down *after* it had already become the most expensive building in the history of mankind. (More expensive than the Pyramids in Egypt measured in GDP equivalent!)
They shut down the reprocessing plant WAA Wackersdorf. Not the protesters, which were quite vocal I might add. Some beancounter in the fricking ultra conservative techno-romantic Bavarian state-government figured the numbers just didn't add up and canceled the damn thing with the stroke of a pencil..... And on and on and on...
Believe me, I too wish it were different. Harnessing the power of the sun and universe here on earth to do great powerful things, Foo Foo Wah Wah. And all that 70ies technocratic romanticism. I'm all for it, really. Heck, my Grandpa worked with Grumman on the lunar lander, as did my dad. I'd love to have a working technocracy, I'm a nerd-kid of the 70ies, for crisakes!
BUT:
The current state of net-positive nuclear power is to risky, to expensive to build, to expensive to maintain, the waste can't be stored safely for the required amount of time, etc. pp. And nuclear power thus IS NOT FEASIBLE!. Those are the facts. End of story.
... the german Government just decided yesterday to finally abandon and decommission all nuclear power by 2021. That's in 10 years. We'll be having a little extended backup reserve of 3 nuclear power plants, but their countdown has begun already.
With regular nuclear power, we are now talking about a technology that Germans considers unmanageable, safety wise. You might want to ponder that for a minute.
I for my part am glad that our current conservative government has finally gotten a clue (25 years after Chernobyl, none-the-less), also due to recent problems with our 'eternal' nuclear dump sites.
Nuclear, as of current state of technology, is a bad idea. There is no fucking way that *anybody* can take over responsibility for 50 000 years worth of deadly toxic waste. Anyone who thought that needs a clobbering.
Slashdot Mirror
Marc Andreessen pretty much nails my current sentiment about our industry. Yet, as many have stated here already, 'We've got money to burn' prototype development aside, Software developmers are often still not treated very well. Which is why I'm quite confident in going freelance again, after leaving my last full-time employment.
Launching a startup costs chump-change nowadays (just cancled my last dedicated server - no need for that in the last 3,5 years) and ideas and problems to solve are a dime a dozen. We're right smack in the middle of the dawn of an age of cyberpunk, with all the ups and downs it that come with it. I intend to catch the big waves and avoid the downsides, and I expect the conditions for doing so are about as good as they can get for IT experts nowadays.
Steve Jobs in his last single interview with Walt Mossberg had a very good example of what is happening with IT right now. It basically goes like this:
The very first cars were trucks. The very first chariots humans built were to hawl food from A to B. They were utility vehicles. Only later, when the vehicles of each age became a commodity, did they turn into everyday passenger vehicles that had a certain mass-availability.
The computer now is doing the same thing, moving from being a tool for workers to being a commodity for everyday use by everyone, not just experts. Experts like us don't like that very much right now, but that's the way it goes. Bizarre IBM age keyboard layouts are finally becoming a thing of the past, UIs are becoming more task focused and the need for abstraction whilst using a 'Post-PC Device' is demising quickly. Even the mouse and the file-system is quickly fading into a specialist tool.
Everyday commodity computing is basically going the way of the iPad.
IT will move to a stronger separation of end-user and expert computing. Workstation-Laptops will become more rare and expensive, purpose built for programmers and admins to use them whilst tablet and netback devices will become a dime a dozen in all kinds of varieties. People won't look for actually performance but for brands of services. Sales talks like this: 'Can my device Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and Netflix?' 'No, it can only Twitter and Facebook, you need an upgrade to Netflix with it.' will become normal at the HiFi-Store or carrier outlet.
Some vendors like Apple, Nintendo or Sony will have a strong vertical lock-in with cushy comfort solutions that require upgrading every 3rd year, others will be more open and more utility focused.
Carriers will get into bed with hardware, software and service brands more often. I expect branding and mindshare to become even more important than today in many places. To emphasize: I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft moved to the Linux kernel in a few years time and nobody would really care or even notice.
Our kind will specialize more and the rich-client web will get a new boost - as it is happening right now - because the platform diversity mess will be very much 1980ies style also like it is right now again.
All in all I'm not to scared about the way of IT, crazy DRM & patents, Human Rights and eavesdropping laws aside.
It's going to be just as interesting then as it is today.
My 2 cents.
I think the problem here is that good essays and insights get lost in the everyday noise and only show their value as they persist over time and more and more people get to see the ingenuity and foresight in them.
I don't think Senecas letters were very famous back then or well know beyond a very small group of people (those he wrote them to). And I also am pretty sure that most citizens of the roman empire didn't care squat about a broad transcendent view on life beyond 'lets pray to jupiter as to win this racing bet'. It is only centuries latter that the quality stuff is still around whilst everyday drivel and non-sense go lost in time and replaced with todays everday drivel and non-sense. Thus we get the impression that back in Senecas time society was full of smart and witty politicians and philosophers making great speeches.
When people in 200 years look at todays Inet Tech era and read Paul Grahams essays - which will still exist while every techcrunch feed will have gone the way of the dodo - people will get the same impression. Lot's of very smart and educated people back then, everything today is degenerated, grand old masters, blabla, jadajada ...
My 2 cents.
How on earth is this 'a pleasing way of uncovering system architecture'? ... The pointy balls aside, I'd basically do pretty much everything exactly opposite of how they did the 3D. ... This guy has it pretty much nailed in terms of 3D enviroment UI and data ... since, like, 8 years ago or so.
3D visuals? OK, I get that. However, I'd leave out crappy wall textures and 3rd grade FPS props and stick to abstract platonic and geoedic shapes with distinct colors, connected with various forms of lines and indexed with a cool looking 3D-enviroment-friendly font.
The actual work I'd have scripts do, while I go and flirt with the helpdesk cutie over a latte. ... As, errm, pretty much everybody does it today already, I might add.
What system analyser in his right mind is going to wave his hands around and shake his hips to lauch scanners and change views?? My fingers can do that way faster. And much cheaper. ... And the technology is there allready.
Bottom line: Nothing new. Not so spectacular realisation. Way better solutions out there allready. No cookie!
My 2 cents.
Was navigating a car from the backseat, back from a night out. It's a town I don't live in and we often use a 'Navi' (german layman term equivalent of 'GPS' in the U.S.). However, the Navi was packed away, since I knew the way from the venue to where we were going. But I was chatting with the lady next to me and we missed a turn. It's been ages since, but I instantly went into 'landmark, neighbourhood and general direction' mode and we got to the destiny with barely any delay. And that was across a river, with another river nearby and on the other side of town.
I'd say navigating without artificial assistance is a skill like bicycle riding. Once learned you won't forget it. It's a also a lot about taking calculated risks. And I do remember turning pages in huge road atlases, cursing every time about how tedious the task of connecting one double-page to an adjacent is, and thinking up better methods. Alas, back then we did know the concepts, didn't we? But the technology just wasn't there or cheap enough. I figure you could build a decent Navi on my DOS Pocket PC from the early 90ies - only they weren't widespread enough for it to be feasable. Mercedes Benz had only started working on digital roadmaps, smaller flywheel compases and stuff a few years earlyer.
You are a professional? Then act like one.
1st of all: Don't get all worked up. Nobody cares squat about your or your former employers web framework, of which there are literally thousands out there. Take the best parts of it, refactor them and contribute them to Zend, Symfony, Cake, Joomla, Drupal, Typo3 or some other big-time project that actually matters (asuming you wrote it in PHP) or something simular for the language chosen. If your Framework is worth anything, you'll be able to do that quickly and join the coreteam of some big-time FOSS webkit in no time and your credit will gain in weeks by orders of magnitude compared to working semi-free for some crappy freeloading web-outfit nobody has ever heard of for the last 5 years.
2nd: If they paid you to write it, chances are they own it, and can do with it as they like.
3rd: If you wrote it on their contract and in your free time and commited significant parts of goodwill into it without getting paid, chances are it's legally dual-licenced ... or some equivalent of that. That means they can do with it whatever they want and you can go on and continue publishing it however you please.
But once again: Nobody gives a shit, so I wouldn't risk legal action from some small-business asshole I once was dealing with if they discover you and think it's sporting to go after some sorry-ass developer who has even less money and power than they. Unless, that is, you have money and time to spare and like to send a small private army of lawyers of yours their way - for fun or profit or both. In that case, be my guest, fetch a lawyer or two and sue them into next wednesday. And please keep us posted on our blog. I, in that case, for one, am going to sit back in my deckchair, grab a bag of popcorn and watch with joyfull glee and delight as some sleazy web-sweatshop gets what they deserve as they are gutted and torn to chunky kibbles by a righfully enraged FOSS deveper. :-) ...
Yet again: Since I guess you've got neither money or extra time to spare, I'd let it be, cover my ass with legal statements on your ownage of the code from some buddies in case they want to get pissy with you in the future and then just carry on with your life. Preferably as a core member of some larger web project actually doing something usefull.
My 2 cents.
FYI: I too developed a FOSS product for a partner pulling in big time projects. We published it as FOSS and, since they brought in fair money, I agreed to dual-licence the code, which they didn't understand at the time. When we parted, they rebranded the product, removed my name, claimed an advancement over the old version - which didn't exsist, aside from a new logo and a flashy website - and disappeared into insignificance two years later. The codebase still is GPL 3 and I'm ready to continue with the product whenever I feel like it. I have witnesses to back my claims should anyone come after me. Which I really don't expect to happen, since I'm halfway cool and professional with my former partners. And I'd redo the codebase completely anyway if I should ever consider picking it up again.
Errrm, ... Nature magazine? Just get a subscription.
Sorry, but this seems so much like a blatantly obivious no-brainer to me.
Me and my buddy are currently moving to Git as the center and foundation of our web development pipeline.
And while I have to hand it to Linus that distributed is the way to go nowadays I also have to say that there are quite some obstacles when attempting the switch.
1st of all: For n00bs in Git or Versioning in general there is still a lack of 'hand-holding' when it comes to finding the correct strategy. Switchers do need a little help whilst on the way to noticing that their brain has been damaged by thinking in concepts of centralised versioning.
For example it was a bit of a hassle to find a correct zero-fuss substitute for 'svn export' in Git. Export is needed for web development, especially in enviroment where not everything is handled by a CI server or a build system. Curiously enough, this problem forced us to understand Git better, in that everything that is considered a big deal in centralised enviroments like SVN is considered standard in-between/throwaway procedure in Git. Turns out best way for us to do an export in Git was to git clone a working tree, copy our deployment stuff and delete the entire cloned repository again.
2nd: Usability and real-world scenarios/examples of usage in the docs that take non-kernel development scenarios into concern. (This is simular but not exactly the same as point 1) While I have to admit, documentation is improving by leaps and bounds as we speak, there are still some gaps to close in this department. The PDF version of the Git book sucks and I still find the hurdles in understanding Git usage models and terminology to difficult to understand intuitively and not explained good enough for the versioning/decentralised layman.
3rd: Tooling. Tooling has improved massively in the last 2,5 years but as far as my spoiled ass can tell I could still use some neater FOSS Git Gui options than the ones available. Git Tower for Mac OS X is my benchmark here. It's an awesome commercial tool, but I'd like something like that in x-plattform FOSS. ... Did I mention I consider myself spoiled? :-)
All in all I think in the recent Thin Client / SOA craze under a new name called 'cloud-computing' - which appears to finally catch on full scale - there is no alternative in moving to distributed versioning in order to keep your shit under control as a computer professional.
Might aswell use Git for that. I expect to have all my stuff - code and documents - versioned and pipelined by the end of the year, in multiple repositories and lingering cloned across various on- and offline drives, archived, backuped, stored and versioned. Completely independant of any computer I may be using at the time.
It that respect the pain of going Git full scale is more than worth it.
My 2 cents.
The issue with this "Chromebook", from my perspective, is that it manages to be as or more expensive(and no better in terms of battery life or weight/build quality) than an equivalent netbook/cheapie laptop.
I personally think the Chromebook along with the Google Online Cloudstuff has its niche already and stands a real chance at becoming the prime choice for household computing.
The first Chromebook from Samsung weighs 1.4 Kg and is roughly 2cm thick, if not thinner. It fits squarely into the MacBook Air carry-around pattern, whilst costing a fifth.
For those who do 95% of their stuff online and know so little about computers they couldn't find a directory on an Thumbdrive - even with OS X Finder in 'stupid-mode', let alone know where to plug it in and how to unmount it before removal (99.999% of all users), the chromebook is a viable every-day computer.
If has the form, size and weight factor of a sleek MacBook Air, costs a fraction of that, has above 8 hours of uptime on battery, has zero hassles with installation and setup, needs no worrying or even knowing about such things as backup, software installation, sane security awareness and data-migrate-ability. All you need to know is how to log into something on the web, which most people do know nowadays.
For those who know what they're doing it's nearly trivially easy to hack a bash CLI onto it, with all the goodies you want.
Optical media aside - which we all agree will become full-scale obsolete any time soon - this would actually be a replacement I'd get my spouse if her iBook G4 breaks. She mostly surfs, does email and sometimes writes a letter. Nothing you can't do with the Google stuff. DVDs are the aforementioned exception to that, but as I see it Netflix, Lovefilm et al are standing ready to solve that even for the very latest of adopters.
And let's face it: I - and I gather most of you too - would take a Linux+Web based Google lockin over an Apple or MS lockin any time. No?
You got to hand it to them: These blackhat/lulz Hacker types sure do have some balls. I'd be scared shitless to pull such a stunt, even if I *did* have the information. I'd be super-ultra-extreme paranoid and cover my tracks many times over. I actually wouldn't know where to start when attemting that.
Probably something like this:
1. Multiple levels of undetected low-profile unix breakins to start off a botnet.
2. Multiple levels of botnets on top of that to finally hack the systems involved in the attack and breach, using totally different malware strategies as to go undetected among the usual hodge-podge of criminal botnets.
3. Low-profile IDS on all levels to scout for detection or suspicious tracing activity 24/7.
4. Encrypted, low-profile bit-by-bit intrusion and trickle-data-grab over weeks or months.
5. Complete rollback and teardown of the entire network with IDS remaining on the last lines of defense (see 1.) ready to send out signals if someone comes for you.
6. Wait. A long time.
7. Release data and press release over simularly complex channels.
Imagine what happens to you if the CIA or some other 3-letter blackops finds out where you're at. Your life is pretty much over then.
White, wet turbans. White wet clothing. You can use non-drinking water to soak the clothing. Even very warm water will help as it cools via evaporation.
Drink isotonic drinks at body temperature. If drinks are cold, the body produces more heat to cool the liquid down.
Don't forget minerals and vitamins. Minerals like regular table salt are important to keep the body going and the mood up, especially when people have been sweating a lot. Alcohol free beer, barley water and simular drinks are both isotonic and have the basic set of minerals. No soft-drinks or sugar. No alcohol. Rather drink less non-alcohol.
Full, lose clothing. Non-dark.
Important: If body-temperature is maxed out and people are at the edge of a sun-heat-stroke it is *always* better to be fully clothed. There is a reason why Bedus wear a Shesh. Also lose, long arms and lose long pant legs. It may feel warm for the layman, but body temperature eavens out at a high level with a full heat-shell rather than overheating in bare sunlight.
Consider Baggy pants or Hakamas for both ladies and men.
Hand-fans. You can build those easyly with wire and cloth if they are lacking. Build them large, take turns faning slowly.
Rescue blankets. Dirt cheap and super efficient at repelling heat. Use them to build sun-tarps and tents.
Hats are better than sun-glasses.
Sun & Heat Optimsed Head Garb in order of efficiency:
1 Shesh / Turban
2 Sombrero / Chinese Rice-Straw 'Dish' Hat / Cowboy Hat
3 Light-colored Longsleve wrapped as Shesh (instructions on the web)
4 Leginoaires Cap with neck-cover / Safari Helmet
Butter can help the skin if sun-lotion is lacking and the skin isn't burnt yet. Don't butter damaged skin! Use curd to cool and replenish burnt skin. (consult a doctor, medical disclaimer, blah blah ... y'know)
When cooling with cool-packs or ice apply the cool-packs at the lymph-nodes and don't let the sun at them. The human body has its own conditioning system and will spread the coolness to where it's needed the most from the lymph-nodes on out.
And last but not least: Good luck with your struggle. The thoughts of all of us are with you. And treat the egytian ladies fair! I'm looking forward to a time when the middle-east beauties can walk around free and are equal to men.
The reason I picked China as the example, is that China has made a conscious effort to control population. One couple, one child. Negative population growth, which should put China comfortably within the land's capability to support their population within the next 100 years or so. (Sorry, no, I haven't researched projected population figures - I'm just guesstimating that 100 years from now, China's population will be (very roughly) about 1/4 what it is today.)
And it will have a man/woman ratio of 1 to 0.6. Due to its one-child-policy the wealthy chinese are seeing to it that they give birth to men rather than women. Same problem with the middle-class in india and islam countries. That's what happens when you give high-tech to dumb and primitive people.
Same thing here as everywhere. It's barely 150 years ago that people in europe were seriously debating wether women have a soul and are fully qualified humans. And it's 60 years ago that they were trying to cleanse continent from 'underhumans'.
Sexophobia, sexism, superstition, sexual frustration and power-mongering on all levels of society, all over the f'cking planet. I sometimes feel like taking a huge army, invading every country on the planet and forcing some sanity into people at gunpoint. Maybe chopping of some really effed up heads along the way. ... But then again, that wouldn't change anything, would it?
Ok, I think more than enough people here have done the best witty cracks on you asking on slashdot, on the web, on a saturday night, about going cold turkey on Inet access. So I'm going to skip that. And while it is true that the problem is your habits and your management of them - i personally have 'LEAVE YOUR COMFORT-ZONE', 'MANAGE YOUR HABITS' and 'LOW INFORMATION DIET' spelled out in big black-on-yellow signs on my desktop wallpaper - I do get that you consider going cold turkey on an uplink is a good option.
But here's the deal:
I personally think you're cheating yourself if you replace an INet uplink with an intranet. If you want to quit the web in this day and age that's fine. But then you should quit all but the most rudimentary electronic media alltogether. Otherwise you'll just find yourself getting hooked on some other sort of techie-gadget stuff. Or TV. Which is way worse than the web, btw.
I've considered quiting on the screen-staring and going back to perfoming arts a few times since the beginning of the year, and it wouldn't be the worst option. However, I have to make a living and I have a daughter who needs my support and programming is the best way I can give her that, so it's computers all around again. If I were alone, I would have ditched the computer stuff allready, but I aint. So there you go.
You on the other hand should, if that's what you're all about - and so it seems, otherwise you wouldn't have asked - should unplug right now, turn off your comp, get off your ass, go out and start learning Kung-Fu, Aikido, playing the violin or Tango dancing or some other kind of thing that offers enough fullfilment for two lives. You will feel much better and lead a much more fulfilling life. Take that from someone who, as of three years ago, spends most his evenings out Tango dancing and away from the keyboard. Me sitting here on a saturday night and answering your /. question is a wide and far between exception these days.
Whatever you do, you should definitly *not* worry about setting up an intranet for a time after you've unplugged. That's just being stupid. Got get a life and don't look back.
CU there.
Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites -> SPHERE
NASA - To boldly backronym where no sane human being has ever dared to backronym before.
Makes me cringe, laugh and stand in bedazzled amazement, all at the same time.
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. - Mahatma Gandi
The FCP X release is a screw-up the likes we have never seen from Apple since Steve Jobs arrived. Never. By Apples Standards, that is. And by these standards they will be measured, as it's the hard standards of media and software professionals from which Apple has gotten it's credit, ever since they did the switch to Unix.
I saw something like this coming.
Bertrand Serlet, lead of OS X. left in march. Check. ... or something like that. Check.
XCode 4 only available via AppStore or ADC Subscription. Check.
GNU CLI Toolkit only with XCode 4 and the hassles (see above). Check.
iPad Software Distribution only via AppStore and Apples distribution pipeline. Check.
FCP X a shoddy upgrade to an allready castrated iMovie
Looks as if this will continue.
Mark my words: There is an Apple disaster brewing, the likes we have never seen.
Mac Cube is a hiccup compared to this.
Vertical LockIn hidden as Mass Appeasement will be Apples downfall as the darling child of professionals. FCP practically owned the market the last few years. This release has video pros all over the planet gasping in disbelief - and no, it has *NOTHING* to do with 'Designers taking over' or some other kind of bullshit.
Good software has a well-designed UI and a good underpinning. This is just Apple forgetting where it got its huge success and releasing sub-standard software. A thing we are not used to from Apple. At least not in the professional media department.
This probably also has to do with Steve not being there full time anymore.
Whatever, I expect more of this in the future, and I wouldn't be suprised if my brand new MacBook Air turns out to be the last Apple device I bought.
That's because they're all busy playing Farmville on Facebook. The last numbers I heard were around 60 to 70% female players. That's with a game that lies north of 50 million active players. Sounds like a huge chunk of women having just the type of fun they need with the gaming industry.
Add in my daughter and her friends all hooked on Animal Crossing DS(i) I'd say the video gaming industry is doind just fine with the ladies.
It's kind of a shame. I thought this sort of crap would stay in Europe. Soccer Game riots are relatively frequent here in Europe, were as sports events in the U.S. and Canada have always seemed notably non-violent and family friendly.
It's one of the few things that actually work way better across the pond than over here. Massive sport event riots is one thing the U.S. and Canada really shouldn't copy from Europe.
Sorry, but what rock have you been living under?
The number one visual web development tool for more than a decade now has been and still is Dreamweaver. Dreamweaver is the reason Adobe dropped GoLive after aquiring Macromedia, since they didn't want two tools for the same segment under their roof. And it was the right decision to make Dreamweaver the prime choice.
If you need a visual web development tool, Dreamweaver is the way to go. If you're using a Mac, as I take you are, Freeway Pro and RapidWeaver are maybe alternatives.
Geekdom is about applied intellect, not intellectualism. In fact, I'd argue that it is precisely the opposite of intelectualism. ... or its eastern variant, Zen Buddhism. Maybe with a tad more materialism, but basically that's it.
Intellectualism is basically a bourgeoise exercise in brain farting, with no real effect on the world in general and no direct practical value to personal life. Geekish applied intellect on the other hand is the - more or less - systematic acquisition of skill and/or insight into the workings of the world around you. For the sake of, in the end, improving the world for oneself and others. In essence, it's the modern pinnacle of Stoicism
That in times like these, where knowledge is free and widely available and top-grade expertise is just a download away, I see no contradiction to geek intellect when the value of a college career is questioned every now and then.
And I see geek intellect only pro-actively up against intellectualism where the latter gets out of hand and places itself to far above the sort of intellect that actually 'gets the job done' contrary to just musing and bullshitting about things.
My 2 cents.
You'll have to face the truth:
When it comes to electronic gaming, your daughter fits squarely into the Nintendo demografic. (As does mine, btw.)
Get her a used DS(i) and any of the Zelda Titles or aim for 'Dad of the year 2011' and shell out the money for a 3DS and the Zelda Title that comes with it. It's an Ocarina of Time remake, AFAICT. The 3DS costs 250$ / 225€, which is a bizar pricepoint for a childrens gadget, but I've seen it in action and have played with it a bit and you have to hand it to Nintendo: It *is* an awesome device. ... And since my employer gave me a DSi for christmas I didn't need to buy it myself. ... But then again, I'm also a game developer, so I've even got some extra "awesome cool dad" score with built-in bragging-rights for my sweetheart on top of that. :-)
You'll be a "Dad of the decade" if you get yourself one too and play Mario Cart or some other multiplayer funtitle with her and her friends once in a while.
I do that once in a while, it's a good unsuspicious way of peeking into the girly-clique mechanisims currently going on every once in a while.
One more advice on the Nintendo portables thing:
Do think twice if you'll buy her some mini-social title like those of the "Animal Crossing". Those are freakishly addictve, as they press the right 'doll playing' buttons with pre-teen and teeny girls. You'll have to impose some rules if you introduce that to your little girl. As for Zelda, she'll probably ask you to help her out from time to time when she gets frustrated with some riddle. We report to each other on our progress every once in a while, which can be a nice conversation piece.
And expect a regular-basis ass-whooping in Mario Cart after half a year or so, once she gets the hang of it. ... Just telling. :-)
This is nothing new. Seidle ( http://www.siedle.de/ http://www.siedleusa.com/ ), a german manufacturer of door-intercom and locking systems has had this sort of thing in their programm since two decades ago or so. You could use a landline phone to answer your door-intercom. I'm pretty sure they have quite a few options for doing that with your cellphone aswell.
I'd urge you and anybody else involved in the decision to read Rework first.
There's a chapter in it called 'Everyone in the front lines'. The bottom line is, that everyone should be involved in directly solving the problems of those whos money the company is running on. I.E., the customers. Everyone should be scheduled in a few hours front-facing time, and if it only is in the companies callcenter or as a protocollist in a sales meeting.
I personally think in a company worth while working for everybody should know a bit about everything. At least the fun parts. Nobody needs to know the mess we go through when version X of software y doesn't run on system Z and we try to figure out what's wrong. The messy and tedious parts are for the pros of the field in question.
Likewise I needn't know where exactly the janitor keeps the window cleaner and what a fuss it is to get the installation company to finish the newest CAT5 layout on schedule, but I should be able to operate the dishwasher and know where the stuff is I need to keep my desk and monitor clean. I also needn't know every single sales statistic in the industry and whether the market we're currently aiming for is worth the 15% discount our current pitch is demanding.
But I'd actually expect a CEO of a software company to be able to understand the difference between a web and a native client UI and the ups and downs of both. I'd also expect a programmer to know where the company he's working for is currently getting its money from, and whether his work is directly related to that or he's currently prototyping for the next round of products. And I'd expect him to know what colorful buttons or neat features the sales-team needs to be able outsell the competition or justify a version upgrade to existing customers.
In a Nutshell, I'd expect everybody in a company to actually give a shit. If that's not the case, then the politics and x-department bickering starts. That's usually the time to leave and look for a new job.
Yeah. Right. Total non-sense. German overreaction and wimpyness.
The last time I heard that it was as german funds, banks and privateers were hesitant to invest in the US housing market.
Listen:
This is the nation that had a significant influence in the invention of nuclear power. THEY INVENTED THE F*CKING STUFF! Nuclear plants all over the planet are run with german hightech. And yet, in this nation of Über-technologist, the effing government party, the CDU, well know to lube up and bend over for the industrial complex in general (and the gridpower giants in particular) whenever the occasion arises
has concluded that
a) The risk is to high.
b) The long-term costs hugely outweigh the benefits of nuclear power.
c) Nobody, and I mean *NOBODY* can take on responsibility for their deadly toxic garbage for a time period of 50 000 years.
d) There are no eternally safe storages for nulear waste.
e) The existing safe storages for nuclear waste are leaking as we speak and the Atomaufsichtsbehörden have a huge f*cking problem on their hands. Which taxpayers will have to pay up for.
d) It's easier than we thought to cover all power needs with renewable sources, *excluding* the burning of coal and/or oil.
They've shut down Kalkar, before it even was finished.
There wasn't even a particularly huge protest wave about that one, compared to AKW Brokdorf. And yet they shut it down *after* it had already become the most expensive building in the history of mankind. (More expensive than the Pyramids in Egypt measured in GDP equivalent!)
They shut down the reprocessing plant WAA Wackersdorf. Not the protesters, which were quite vocal I might add. Some beancounter in the fricking ultra conservative techno-romantic Bavarian state-government figured the numbers just didn't add up and canceled the damn thing with the stroke of a pencil. .... And on and on and on ...
Believe me, I too wish it were different. Harnessing the power of the sun and universe here on earth to do great powerful things, Foo Foo Wah Wah. And all that 70ies technocratic romanticism. I'm all for it, really. Heck, my Grandpa worked with Grumman on the lunar lander, as did my dad. I'd love to have a working technocracy, I'm a nerd-kid of the 70ies, for crisakes!
BUT:
The current state of net-positive nuclear power is to risky, to expensive to build, to expensive to maintain, the waste can't be stored safely for the required amount of time, etc. pp.
And nuclear power thus IS NOT FEASIBLE!.
Those are the facts. End of story.
... the german Government just decided yesterday to finally abandon and decommission all nuclear power by 2021. That's in 10 years. We'll be having a little extended backup reserve of 3 nuclear power plants, but their countdown has begun already.
With regular nuclear power, we are now talking about a technology that Germans considers unmanageable, safety wise. You might want to ponder that for a minute.
I for my part am glad that our current conservative government has finally gotten a clue (25 years after Chernobyl, none-the-less), also due to recent problems with our 'eternal' nuclear dump sites.
Nuclear, as of current state of technology, is a bad idea. There is no fucking way that *anybody* can take over responsibility for 50 000 years worth of deadly toxic waste. Anyone who thought that needs a clobbering.