A used salesman posts duplicate messages to Slashdot. When you see his name are you really going to bother investigating the message or just 'assume' that it's another dup? (Of course, if there's any site where dups are the norm, it's/.)
Personally I think ads in email are kind of silly. I've never clicked an ad in GMail, but have clicked ads several dozen if not hundreds of times through the search interface. Why? Well, when I'm in GMail, I'm reading email, not looking for more information about some topic. So I read the email and reply or delete, but go off on another tangent? Fraid not.
My wife's company prohibits them from installing IM client software so, naturally, everyone uses a web-based client (AIM Express or MSN's web-based client). Does anyone know of a web-based Jabber client? Hopefully one that doesn't suck? I don't use the web-based AIM or MSN clients, but from hearing my wife gripe about them they sound less than desireable.
If you use IM to communicate business matters, logs are essential. (I do programming/consulting from home, and use IM, Skype, and POTS to stay in touch with my clients, so the IM log is nice if there is a question from a previous chat.)
Granted, personal IMs are 99% deletable, in my experience.
I understand that this is, in fact, the driving force behind sports game sales. I can't say I've ever really understood it.
You can't see the interest in playing as your favorite players in real life? Or playing along as your team in real life plays their season? Yes, the game play is a paramount factor for the enjoyability of a game, but all things being equal, wouldn't you rather play as the guys you watch on TV and follow in the papers?
Any football fan here would agree that there is very little difference between each new Madden release, except for possibly the player names, stats and some minor UI changes, and Madden saying something slightly different from time to time. But most of his old bricks stay in the game.
Serious footbacll fans who dig their video games upgrade each year primarily because of the one item you didn't list - the evolving team roster. A player might have a favorite team or two and want to be able to have his video game playing mimic the real season in the sense that he can have the 'real' QB throw to the 'real' wide out and so on. Plus, usually the graphics do improve year after year.
Personally I'm an NBA fan, never really into football. My purchases in the Sega basketball series (NBA2k2, 2k3, and then the ESPN line) were primarily driven by roster changes. Wanted to be able to play the Lakers when they had Shaq, Kobe, Malone, and Payton; then wanted to be able to play with Shaq and D-Wade, or a Nash-led run and gun Suns team.
Speaking of the basketball series of games, though, one thing they do seem to do a good job of is introduce some nuisance each year. For example, in early versions of 2kX the fast breaking was horrible, players would come to a dead stop to catch a pass rather than having one player lead the other with a pass - very frustrating when you have a 2 on 1 break and you pass it to the lead man who stops dead in his tracks and waits for the ball to arrive. So they fixed that with lead passes, but then they made the computer's point guard too good, always able to blow by you defending him. Even if you were a long, atheletic NBA guard who is well-known for his defensive prowress, and guarding an old, slow guy who is all thumbs in real life, you'd get taken to school every time. It would end up where the other team might score 50 points in a game w/their PG racking up 40 of those. So they improved that in the next year's game, but then went and made the post play too easy. Throw it down low, do the drop-step, and you're shooting like 90%, doesn't matter who you are or who's guarding you. Etc., etc.
The point is, there always seems to be a nagging reason to upgrade, and the developers always seem coy enough to always add some new, 'This sucks, can't wait til next year's release' "feature."
I agree that the thief sounds like a royal asshole, and the guy who got ripped off probably worked his butt off for the item and now feels rightfully justified. But it's also important to keep in mind that this is a game. I mean, he was making real-world, physical threats. "I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE," stuff like that.
There's a good article on kuro5hin.org on the front page on a similar topic: MMOGS: Abandon hope all ye who enter. The k5 article is about the addictiveness of MMOGS. My favorite link from the article: You stole my cloudsong! Kind of illustrates how folks can take these 'games' all too seriously.
A short number of publications (be it art, music, novels, journalism, etc.) are 'hits.' The vast, vast, vast majority are non-hits. But with the Internet's capability of having virtually unlimited shelf space, along with the ability to have 'recommendations' from like-minded folks, the revenue generated by long tail items typically exceeds the revenue generated by the concentraded number of 'hits.'
This concept is explored in much greater detail in Chris Anderson's blog, The Long Tail, and his accompanying article, also named The Long Tail.
Ah, you just missed the boat. See, the thing now is podcasts. If you start a popular podcast, the sky's the limit as far as revenue's concerned. One day there will be folks who make six figures doing nothing but podcasting. GET ON BOARD NOW WHILE YOU CAN! LIMITED INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY!
I believe that cable is sending that 'loyalty club member' card data data to some server, keeping track of how long you're gambling at that table.
I've always wondered, though, how 'useful' those loyalty cards are. I'm not a big gambler at all - prefer the $1 blackjack (at least they used to have it at Sahara's on the far end of the Vegas strip) or video poker. Actually, I much prefer not gambling, but when in Rome, I guess. But I've looked at those 'loyalty cards' and it seems like you have to spend an ass-load to get anything in return, so I can't imagine what kind of dollars you'd need to be dropping to get the 'free room' or whatever non-trivial crap they offer via those cards.
It seems that one cause of behavior of people like your ex-wife is due to being spoiled as a child. That is, they had their whims satisfied as a child, weren't told "No" enough and came to obtain a false sense of entitlement, failing to shed the mentality of a "me-first" child.
I think such outcomes are especially likely with divorced children, as one (or both) parents feel very guilty for splitting up the family so to compensate they overindulge the kids - buy them cars when they hit 16, take them on vacations, let them basically live rule-free for the time they have custody, and so on. But as you know kids need rules, boundaries, and - gasp - to be told "No" more often than not.
I should have been more specific. Sure, you can make an assload of money selling to the poor, but only if what you're selling can be obtained cheaply (i.e., food, soap, clothes, etc.). Clearly there's a certain cost that Microsoft or Sony (or Nintendo) incur to develop the console, produce it, ship it, market it, etc. That, along with projected sales, tells them what the minimum they could sell it for and break even. And that dollar figure is quite a bit higher than the break even point for buying tomatos and selling them to folks. Sorry, but they can't afford to sell an XBOX for $25, no matter how many 'cash strapped' folks would buy it.
In any event, why is anyone surprised at the 'high' prices of 'next generation' consoles?
For electronics companies the formula is pretty well-established:
Invest serious $$$ into R&D and make a 'next generation' product
Spend big on marketing/advertising
Give it a price tag that may be a bit high, but one that early adopters will happily swallow
Over time lower prices to capture a larger market share
That's what you see with virtually every electronic toy out there.
Yeah, I don't think most businesses wanting to make an assload of money really are targetting the 'cash strapped' demographic. Rather, they are aiming for the pudgy middleclass, those will money to burn (or at least willing to go seriously into consumer debt to have their toys).
Re:Windows programming is purposely vague..
on
Visual Studio Hacks
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· Score: 1
I offer at least my anecdotal evidence that it has been far easier to find relevant information when programming for linux than Windows
Just like a lawyer would probably tell an accountant that it's much easier for them to find legal briefs than it is to find tax code regulations.
Plus your assertation that there is more Windows programmers than *nix programers is rediculous. Every organisation I have ever been in, the Windows team is about 1/4 the size of the *nix team working on backend custom apps (like 99% of programmers in the world do).
Sum up the total number of Windows applications throughout the world and you don't think that they far outweigh those of *nix? How many *nix programs do you find at your local store vs. how many Windows programs? Someone's gotta me writing those Windows programs.
I dunno, I don't have any solid stats that point to there definitively being more Windows programmers in the world vs. *nix programmers, I speak only from what seems to be obvious emperical evidence. However, that may be simply because that's the world I live in.
Regardless, this thread has gotten a bit off track. The original post was about how Windows programmers are a bunch of "money-first, screw this sharing/collaborating thing," which I still hold is patently false.
Re:Windows programming is purposely vague..
on
Visual Studio Hacks
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· Score: 1
where are the multiple-contributor independant equivalents of CPAN?
GotDotNet, perhaps? There are a lot of open-source, collaborative projects there.
Experts Exchange is a forum, as you know; there are many 'official' forums that are more targetted, see the ASP.NET Forums for a rather large example. In a similar vein, there are some other great targetted resources - ASPMessageboard.com, ASP Advice (a bevy of email listservs), a slew of high-traffic USENET groups (see microsoft.public.dotnet and start drilling down...)
(My expertise is in the ASP.NET world, so you'll excuse my ignorance on resources in other Microsoft-technology arenas...)
Regarding searching MSDN, I agree, it's difficult. Everyone I know who uses MSDN often uses Google's site search. There's also Google's Microsoft-specific search. Also, while a number of contributors to MSDN are Microsofties, a large number are not - they are 'real-world' professionals or independent contractors. I've written for MSDN Magazine, MSDN Online (specifically the ASP.NET Dev Center), and general MSDN documentation. The point is, they do dole out a lot of the 'docs' to non-Microsoft employees.
I agree with you that businesses - whether they are OSS-related businesses or not - "only take any action if it's perceived ultimately to add value to the shares." (Do you think IBM or Sun or Redhat are going to take actions that directly underminde share valuation?) However, people typically are more about the free flow of information. And, yes, these types of people exist in the Microsoft world as much so as they do in the OSS world, IMO. From my experiences I can tell you that I've personally met literally hundreds of developers working on Microsoft technologies that spend a good chunk of their time writing free articles, speaking at user groups, helping answer questions on messageboards/listservs/USENET, and so on. I guess I'm saying, Microsoft-aligned and OSS-aligned companies will, IMHO, act similarly (i.e., in the best interest of the business), and the people will act similarly as well.
Re:Windows programming is purposely vague..
on
Visual Studio Hacks
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· Score: 1
There may be a fundamental difference in mindset between OSS and Microsoft developers, but please don't paint with too broad a brush. There are those in the Microsoft world who offer free and open-source products. In fact, here's my (very-small) directory of some useful products: http://www.dotnettoolbox.com/. Also, here are two open-source ASP.NET server controls I created - skmMenu and RssFeed.
Additionally, there is a large site with extensive docs, articles, etc. that are available for free. It's called MSDN. There really are a gob of articles there, including many advanced-level ones. Ditto Microsoft's MSDN Magazine. While a print copy costs $$$, all the articles can be viewed for free online.
Given most comments on the forums of The American Atheist website, it would appear that anyone with even a slight knowledge of science and evolution hates God. An article from The Bible, though, argues that not everyone should dismiss God outright. According to the priests, the Pope, and other religious spokespeople, evolution is over-rated, Darwin isn't worthy, and God deserves respect and some love.
Re:Windows programming is purposely vague..
on
Visual Studio Hacks
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· Score: 1
With Windows you have MSDN, but that's *all* you've got, outside of that there's books and a sparcity of Windows forums. When programming for anything based on *nix you have the knowledge of the entire progamming community just a few keywords away in google.
Oh please. I mean, really - please. There are gobs of forums, resource sites, how-tos, tutorials, and so on. I mean freakin' tons. In fact, I'd wager that they far outnumber the presence of *nix resources out there. Just think of it this way - there are more Windows programmers than *nix programmers in the universe, hence it would only make sense that Windows resources would be more prevelent on the Web.
Slashdot Mirror
A used salesman posts duplicate messages to Slashdot. When you see his name are you really going to bother investigating the message or just 'assume' that it's another dup? (Of course, if there's any site where dups are the norm, it's /.)
Personally I think ads in email are kind of silly. I've never clicked an ad in GMail, but have clicked ads several dozen if not hundreds of times through the search interface. Why? Well, when I'm in GMail, I'm reading email, not looking for more information about some topic. So I read the email and reply or delete, but go off on another tangent? Fraid not.
Ducks
My wife's company prohibits them from installing IM client software so, naturally, everyone uses a web-based client (AIM Express or MSN's web-based client). Does anyone know of a web-based Jabber client? Hopefully one that doesn't suck? I don't use the web-based AIM or MSN clients, but from hearing my wife gripe about them they sound less than desireable.
Granted, personal IMs are 99% deletable, in my experience.
Ah, just put it on the credit card and worry about it later. Enough people do that already, so why not follow suit?
You can't see the interest in playing as your favorite players in real life? Or playing along as your team in real life plays their season? Yes, the game play is a paramount factor for the enjoyability of a game, but all things being equal, wouldn't you rather play as the guys you watch on TV and follow in the papers?
Serious footbacll fans who dig their video games upgrade each year primarily because of the one item you didn't list - the evolving team roster. A player might have a favorite team or two and want to be able to have his video game playing mimic the real season in the sense that he can have the 'real' QB throw to the 'real' wide out and so on. Plus, usually the graphics do improve year after year.
Personally I'm an NBA fan, never really into football. My purchases in the Sega basketball series (NBA2k2, 2k3, and then the ESPN line) were primarily driven by roster changes. Wanted to be able to play the Lakers when they had Shaq, Kobe, Malone, and Payton; then wanted to be able to play with Shaq and D-Wade, or a Nash-led run and gun Suns team.
Speaking of the basketball series of games, though, one thing they do seem to do a good job of is introduce some nuisance each year. For example, in early versions of 2kX the fast breaking was horrible, players would come to a dead stop to catch a pass rather than having one player lead the other with a pass - very frustrating when you have a 2 on 1 break and you pass it to the lead man who stops dead in his tracks and waits for the ball to arrive. So they fixed that with lead passes, but then they made the computer's point guard too good, always able to blow by you defending him. Even if you were a long, atheletic NBA guard who is well-known for his defensive prowress, and guarding an old, slow guy who is all thumbs in real life, you'd get taken to school every time. It would end up where the other team might score 50 points in a game w/their PG racking up 40 of those. So they improved that in the next year's game, but then went and made the post play too easy. Throw it down low, do the drop-step, and you're shooting like 90%, doesn't matter who you are or who's guarding you. Etc., etc.
The point is, there always seems to be a nagging reason to upgrade, and the developers always seem coy enough to always add some new, 'This sucks, can't wait til next year's release' "feature."
I agree that the thief sounds like a royal asshole, and the guy who got ripped off probably worked his butt off for the item and now feels rightfully justified. But it's also important to keep in mind that this is a game. I mean, he was making real-world, physical threats. "I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE," stuff like that.
Ah, you youngsters. Back in my day people dropped out of college because of Everquest.
There's a good article on kuro5hin.org on the front page on a similar topic: MMOGS: Abandon hope all ye who enter. The k5 article is about the addictiveness of MMOGS. My favorite link from the article: You stole my cloudsong! Kind of illustrates how folks can take these 'games' all too seriously.
This concept is explored in much greater detail in Chris Anderson's blog, The Long Tail, and his accompanying article, also named The Long Tail.
Ah, you just missed the boat. See, the thing now is podcasts. If you start a popular podcast, the sky's the limit as far as revenue's concerned. One day there will be folks who make six figures doing nothing but podcasting. GET ON BOARD NOW WHILE YOU CAN! LIMITED INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY!
Hrm, that would explain why I don't get comped the penthouse sweet when playing my $5 at the nickel video poker. Damn.
- Idiots,
- Cheaters, or
- MIT students.
Or perhaps I'm being redundant.I've always wondered, though, how 'useful' those loyalty cards are. I'm not a big gambler at all - prefer the $1 blackjack (at least they used to have it at Sahara's on the far end of the Vegas strip) or video poker. Actually, I much prefer not gambling, but when in Rome, I guess. But I've looked at those 'loyalty cards' and it seems like you have to spend an ass-load to get anything in return, so I can't imagine what kind of dollars you'd need to be dropping to get the 'free room' or whatever non-trivial crap they offer via those cards.
Given this woman's background and behavior, may I inquire as to why you married her in the first place? (Or sired children with her, for that matter?)
I think such outcomes are especially likely with divorced children, as one (or both) parents feel very guilty for splitting up the family so to compensate they overindulge the kids - buy them cars when they hit 16, take them on vacations, let them basically live rule-free for the time they have custody, and so on. But as you know kids need rules, boundaries, and - gasp - to be told "No" more often than not.
In any event, why is anyone surprised at the 'high' prices of 'next generation' consoles? For electronics companies the formula is pretty well-established:
- Invest serious $$$ into R&D and make a 'next generation' product
- Spend big on marketing/advertising
- Give it a price tag that may be a bit high, but one that early adopters will happily swallow
- Over time lower prices to capture a larger market share
That's what you see with virtually every electronic toy out there.Yeah, I don't think most businesses wanting to make an assload of money really are targetting the 'cash strapped' demographic. Rather, they are aiming for the pudgy middleclass, those will money to burn (or at least willing to go seriously into consumer debt to have their toys).
Just like a lawyer would probably tell an accountant that it's much easier for them to find legal briefs than it is to find tax code regulations.
Plus your assertation that there is more Windows programmers than *nix programers is rediculous. Every organisation I have ever been in, the Windows team is about 1/4 the size of the *nix team working on backend custom apps (like 99% of programmers in the world do).
Sum up the total number of Windows applications throughout the world and you don't think that they far outweigh those of *nix? How many *nix programs do you find at your local store vs. how many Windows programs? Someone's gotta me writing those Windows programs.
I dunno, I don't have any solid stats that point to there definitively being more Windows programmers in the world vs. *nix programmers, I speak only from what seems to be obvious emperical evidence. However, that may be simply because that's the world I live in.
Regardless, this thread has gotten a bit off track. The original post was about how Windows programmers are a bunch of "money-first, screw this sharing/collaborating thing," which I still hold is patently false.
GotDotNet, perhaps? There are a lot of open-source, collaborative projects there.
Experts Exchange is a forum, as you know; there are many 'official' forums that are more targetted, see the ASP.NET Forums for a rather large example. In a similar vein, there are some other great targetted resources - ASPMessageboard.com, ASP Advice (a bevy of email listservs), a slew of high-traffic USENET groups (see microsoft.public.dotnet and start drilling down...) (My expertise is in the ASP.NET world, so you'll excuse my ignorance on resources in other Microsoft-technology arenas...)
Regarding searching MSDN, I agree, it's difficult. Everyone I know who uses MSDN often uses Google's site search. There's also Google's Microsoft-specific search. Also, while a number of contributors to MSDN are Microsofties, a large number are not - they are 'real-world' professionals or independent contractors. I've written for MSDN Magazine, MSDN Online (specifically the ASP.NET Dev Center), and general MSDN documentation. The point is, they do dole out a lot of the 'docs' to non-Microsoft employees.
I agree with you that businesses - whether they are OSS-related businesses or not - "only take any action if it's perceived ultimately to add value to the shares." (Do you think IBM or Sun or Redhat are going to take actions that directly underminde share valuation?) However, people typically are more about the free flow of information. And, yes, these types of people exist in the Microsoft world as much so as they do in the OSS world, IMO. From my experiences I can tell you that I've personally met literally hundreds of developers working on Microsoft technologies that spend a good chunk of their time writing free articles, speaking at user groups, helping answer questions on messageboards/listservs/USENET, and so on. I guess I'm saying, Microsoft-aligned and OSS-aligned companies will, IMHO, act similarly (i.e., in the best interest of the business), and the people will act similarly as well.
Additionally, there is a large site with extensive docs, articles, etc. that are available for free. It's called MSDN. There really are a gob of articles there, including many advanced-level ones. Ditto Microsoft's MSDN Magazine. While a print copy costs $$$, all the articles can be viewed for free online.
Given most comments on the forums of The American Atheist website, it would appear that anyone with even a slight knowledge of science and evolution hates God. An article from The Bible , though, argues that not everyone should dismiss God outright. According to the priests, the Pope, and other religious spokespeople, evolution is over-rated, Darwin isn't worthy, and God deserves respect and some love.
Oh please. I mean, really - please. There are gobs of forums, resource sites, how-tos, tutorials, and so on. I mean freakin' tons. In fact, I'd wager that they far outnumber the presence of *nix resources out there. Just think of it this way - there are more Windows programmers than *nix programmers in the universe, hence it would only make sense that Windows resources would be more prevelent on the Web.