This does of course depend on the country. In the UK, copyright is automatic: "There is no official registration system for copyright in the UK and most other parts of the world. There are no forms to fill in and no fees to pay to get copyright protection. If you have created a work that qualifies for copyright protection, you will have copyright protection once you meet the criteria for protection (see pg. 3). You do not, however, have to fill out any forms or pay any money to receive protection. In fact, it is a requirement of various international conventions on copyright that copyright should be automatic." - http://www.ipo.gov.uk/c-essential.pdf (page 16, with apologies for the PDF link)
Of course, you couldn't do this previously using the Internet, only e-readers make this feasible. Before that, the distance to the library clearly made this entirely impossible.
No, new shiny technology of the day has not changed everything. Parents who may have struggled to build a teaching plan yesterday will still struggle even if you give them a Kindle. Most families will still need both parents to work these days, anyway.
Okay, so I'm focusing here on the iPad example given in the story, which is fairly clearly making use of technology they had to buy in...
Also, where does all this content come from? Are there rapid development tools that are suitable for most teachers to make this content with (in which case, please do tell me where!)? If not, are you suggesting an in-house content creation team (not too uncommon), or buying in external content (which is fairly thin on the ground still)?
Pain avoidance. It's challenging to be constantly faced with self-inflicted problems on the part of the users, and not want to restrict them until they can't do any damage.
(We dealt with this by auditing everything, and all "Delete" buttons actually just hide the entity in question:) )
Others claim to see improved student engagement with technology, and my feeling is that with enough resources you can get an improved experiences. I lean towards the opinion that for now the technology is not good value for money in terms of projects running now. On the other hand, now is a good time to be running small pilot projects in expectation that costs will come down, and software will improve.
Yes, because relative value of a Bitcoin vs USD is really what's holding the currency back, and not, in fact, the massive price instability.
Realistically, people don't want to use a currency that gains 1000% in value, then drops again, then up 200% in only a few months. Until you can pay your taxes in Bitcoin, you're going to have to convert money out of Bitcoin ASAP after getting it, to ensure you can actually meet future obligations, and that makes it a right pain to deal with.
I will say, users are terrible for taking responsibility for their own mistakes. So we either are the bad guys for not allowing shiny untested tech, or for not fixing problems users bring upon themselves with the shiny tech.
The effect of risks in aggregate are also very opaque; you may never see problems with random untested approaches or poorly considered actions, but IT deal with this routinely. What do you want us to say when we're told too much time is spent on support queries already?
Okay, I brace yourself not to laugh, but I've gone back to the MUD FAQ...
"Because of their size and their constant computational activities, servers can be extremely CPU-intensive and can even be crippling to any other work done on that computer. Even if they're not CPU-intensive, most MUDs can take up a fair amount of disk space - anywhere from 10 to 90 megs, which could impact the other users on the machine. Do not ever run a MUD server on a machine illicitly or without express permission from the person responsible for the machine. Many universities and companies have strict policies about that sort of behavior which you don't want to cross. "
Err... early MUDs tended to cost a lot to set up, but were run as curiosity projects as universities. I also remember MUDs that did charge for access, such as Avalon (still in existence: http://www.avalon-rpg.com/ ), although many came with other services, for example Terris ( http://www.legendsofterris.com/ ) came with OnLive in the UK, then went to AOL, before becoming independent.
Yes; the issue is the length of animation used, but the basic concept of using an animation to reflect a transition of display from one state to another is sound. You generally want such animations to be aroun 200-400ms though, so your eye just as time to catch it, but it's not something you're generally aware of.
Has he ever actually talked to users?
on
The Condescending UI
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
I've spent a decade in the firing line (developer exposed directly to users), and this goes directly against everything we've heard from the vast majority. Yes, your power users are going to be frustrated by simplified UI, sorry guys, you're not our main audience. The average user does not want to spend time learning the UI, they want to pick up the app, do what they need to do and move on with their life.
Debatable; keep in mind they're recruiting for cryptanalysts and information/network security people, not spies in the traditional sense. They want strong problem solving abilities; so short-cutting to the solution I would imagine won't discount someone, but they would also need to show the core skills expected of the job...
If by win, you mean stand a fair chance of getting to the interview stage, probably. I suspect lacking a good answer to "How did you solve the problem?" would be a bit of an issue, until the whole thing was blown wide open anyway...
I thought this was fairly well understood to be honest; there's very little demand for very experienced developers, so career progression for many developers is management, consulting, or similar.
> Why would I hire some old guy who's going to miss days and only work 9-5 because he has sick kids, baseball games, piano recitals, etc?
Because the old guy will see things coming a mile away that your newbies will crash into headfirst, and have to backtrack then re-do? Software development is not an area where you can make up for experience with a few extra hours a here and there; a developer in over their head is likely to never succeed at a project. A struggling development team can easily take an order of magnitude or more, longer, than one who is tackling a problem at their level.
Slashdot Mirror
This does of course depend on the country. In the UK, copyright is automatic: "There is no official registration system for copyright in the UK and most other parts of the world. There are no forms to fill in and no fees to pay to get copyright protection. If you have created a work that qualifies for copyright protection, you will have copyright protection once you meet the criteria for protection (see pg. 3). You do not, however, have to fill out any forms or pay any money to receive protection. In fact, it is a requirement of various international conventions on copyright that copyright should be automatic." - http://www.ipo.gov.uk/c-essential.pdf (page 16, with apologies for the PDF link)
I strongly suspect those will be the stats Cameron will be using anyway, alas.
NHS waiting list statistics: http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Statistics/Performancedataandstatistics/HospitalWaitingTimesandListStatistics/index.htm
Crime statistics: http://www.police.uk/
Unemployment: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/hub/labour-market/people-not-in-work/unemployment
It's actually towards the higher end of average for a technical position.
The thing to keep in mind with UK vs US wages, however, is that we get a LOT more holiday time. Legally it's a 28 days/year minimum: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/Timeoffandholidays/DG_10029788
http://code.google.com/p/androidchat/
But yeah, there aren't many.
There are some actually free apps, particularly on Android (some are even open source), but mostly you're correct.
The Android SDK is at http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html - tell us how you get on.
Of course, you couldn't do this previously using the Internet, only e-readers make this feasible. Before that, the distance to the library clearly made this entirely impossible.
No, new shiny technology of the day has not changed everything. Parents who may have struggled to build a teaching plan yesterday will still struggle even if you give them a Kindle. Most families will still need both parents to work these days, anyway.
What protests? Did you mean the rioting in which looters made off with anything they could and burnt businesses? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14460111
Okay, so I'm focusing here on the iPad example given in the story, which is fairly clearly making use of technology they had to buy in...
Also, where does all this content come from? Are there rapid development tools that are suitable for most teachers to make this content with (in which case, please do tell me where!)? If not, are you suggesting an in-house content creation team (not too uncommon), or buying in external content (which is fairly thin on the ground still)?
Pain avoidance. It's challenging to be constantly faced with self-inflicted problems on the part of the users, and not want to restrict them until they can't do any damage.
(We dealt with this by auditing everything, and all "Delete" buttons actually just hide the entity in question :) )
Others claim to see improved student engagement with technology, and my feeling is that with enough resources you can get an improved experiences. I lean towards the opinion that for now the technology is not good value for money in terms of projects running now. On the other hand, now is a good time to be running small pilot projects in expectation that costs will come down, and software will improve.
Yes, because relative value of a Bitcoin vs USD is really what's holding the currency back, and not, in fact, the massive price instability.
Realistically, people don't want to use a currency that gains 1000% in value, then drops again, then up 200% in only a few months. Until you can pay your taxes in Bitcoin, you're going to have to convert money out of Bitcoin ASAP after getting it, to ensure you can actually meet future obligations, and that makes it a right pain to deal with.
> Okay, everybody tell me how wrong I am.
I will say, users are terrible for taking responsibility for their own mistakes. So we either are the bad guys for not allowing shiny untested tech, or for not fixing problems users bring upon themselves with the shiny tech.
The effect of risks in aggregate are also very opaque; you may never see problems with random untested approaches or poorly considered actions, but IT deal with this routinely. What do you want us to say when we're told too much time is spent on support queries already?
Okay, I brace yourself not to laugh, but I've gone back to the MUD FAQ...
"Because of their size and their constant computational activities, servers can be extremely CPU-intensive and can even be crippling to any other work done on that computer. Even if they're not CPU-intensive, most MUDs can take up a fair amount of disk space - anywhere from 10 to 90 megs, which could impact the other users on the machine. Do not ever run a MUD server on a machine illicitly or without express permission from the person responsible for the machine. Many universities and companies have strict policies about that sort of behavior which you don't want to cross. "
- http://www.mudconnect.com/mudfaq/mudfaq-p2.html#q9
The point being, when MUDs were the main form of multiplayer online gaming, they were not trivial in hardware requirements.
And yes, I'm sure your mouse does have more storage than that these days...
Err... early MUDs tended to cost a lot to set up, but were run as curiosity projects as universities. I also remember MUDs that did charge for access, such as Avalon (still in existence: http://www.avalon-rpg.com/ ), although many came with other services, for example Terris ( http://www.legendsofterris.com/ ) came with OnLive in the UK, then went to AOL, before becoming independent.
Gyah.
Facebook <my real name>
I'm frequently entertained by the fact that Googling "Facebook " gives three links to Facebook, none of them me.
I'd probably be less entertained if my namesakes were not really cool, interesting people with great careers.
Yes; the issue is the length of animation used, but the basic concept of using an animation to reflect a transition of display from one state to another is sound. You generally want such animations to be aroun 200-400ms though, so your eye just as time to catch it, but it's not something you're generally aware of.
I've spent a decade in the firing line (developer exposed directly to users), and this goes directly against everything we've heard from the vast majority. Yes, your power users are going to be frustrated by simplified UI, sorry guys, you're not our main audience. The average user does not want to spend time learning the UI, they want to pick up the app, do what they need to do and move on with their life.
Someone re-re-invented mainframes, and therefore everything is new and no-one understands it any more.
Debatable; keep in mind they're recruiting for cryptanalysts and information/network security people, not spies in the traditional sense. They want strong problem solving abilities; so short-cutting to the solution I would imagine won't discount someone, but they would also need to show the core skills expected of the job...
If by win, you mean stand a fair chance of getting to the interview stage, probably. I suspect lacking a good answer to "How did you solve the problem?" would be a bit of an issue, until the whole thing was blown wide open anyway...
I thought this was fairly well understood to be honest; there's very little demand for very experienced developers, so career progression for many developers is management, consulting, or similar.
> Why would I hire some old guy who's going to miss days and only work 9-5 because he has sick kids, baseball games, piano recitals, etc?
Because the old guy will see things coming a mile away that your newbies will crash into headfirst, and have to backtrack then re-do? Software development is not an area where you can make up for experience with a few extra hours a here and there; a developer in over their head is likely to never succeed at a project. A struggling development team can easily take an order of magnitude or more, longer, than one who is tackling a problem at their level.