Java and C# are both "closed" languages controlled by large corporate entities with their own self-interests in mind
Agreed - but Java at least attempts "write once, run anywhere," (with debatable success) whereas M$ C# attempts "write once, run on Windows XP, with Windows Messenger and a.Net Passport or else"
I have a lot more faith trusting my applications and business to a company that isn't trying to take over every purchasing decision we make. If you have read the fine print that comes with Windows messenger - the other half of.Net - it essentially gives Microsoft the right to modify the application at any time, with out notifying you. Oh, and these upgrades might not be free! The bottom line? Microsoft is going to decide sometime in the future to cut you off, and then make you pay. And you would trust these people not to do the same with C#??
One day your app or service isn't going to run, and all you see in your logs will be "Call Miscrosoft to obtain a license to run C#"
but they allow the ad companies to track you in real time... from their privacy policy:
"...SilentSurf.com features its own banner ads at the very top and bottom of every page. You should be aware that SilentSurf.com does not serve or control those banners, which are served by independent Internet advertising firms. Those firms may send cookies to your browser, track your IP address, or attempt to capture or control other information about your browser or web surfing session. "
I suppose you could use a proxy like AdSubtract to get rid of those...
How come we all love one blood sucking parasite's catch phase but no one likes "Where do you want to go today?" ...maybe because the tick is more insightful than ol' billyboy: "Well, once again, my friend, we find that science is a two-headed beast. One head is nice, it gives us aspirin and other modern conveniences... But the other head of science is bad! Oh, beware the other head of science, Arthur! It bites!"
And it's only a matter of time before some sorority girls start up a "space cam" in their hotel room. Now the question is, who will be the first to join the "100 miles high" club?
Especially with the decline in internet advertising demand, rates and revenue, agencies are focusing less on the click-through metric and more on "branding."
Much like traditional "highway billboard" advertising - where the number of impressions is nothing more than an estimate of how many people drive by, brand recognition in invaluable on the internet even if people don't click on the text or banner ad. There is value in advertisements even with a low click-through rate.
Click through a page watch a 10 sec ad. Continue on. Or pay the site and skip the ad's ya know like tv but with options?????
I don't know what kind of TV you watch , but I can see it now...
<baseball game> pitch on the way... [cut to shameless plug] - (stay tuned to see if the batter swings!) </baseball game>
I flip the channel during TV commercials.
I didn't get broadband to wait 10 seconds for the information I want to load.
A site that makes people sit through even 2 seconds of ads to view a page that may be completely useless will lose 99.999999% (rounding down) of their users and alienate them to the product advertised in nothing flat.
NASA - Engineers this week discovered the robotic arm on the new space station ceased functioning when they failed to register RoboticArm XP with Microsoft before it was used 15 times. As a result, the robotic arm only boots into a "safe mode." This activates the breaks and the arm does not move. A Micro$oft spokesperson referred to this lack of movement and functionality as evident Micro$soft is providing NASA with the "most secure robotic arm product ever."
After registering RoboticArm XP, engineers eventually had to replace a troublesome joint in the arm as well. The hardware change required NASA engineers to call Micro$oft and convince them RoboticArm XP was not being installed on a new robotic space station arm but in fact, on the same robotic space station arm with a new joint.
Shares of Micro$soft were up an 1/8th on news they actually sold a copy of RoboticArm XP.
"I have agreed to let my car company, for instance, track my every move through GPS satellites. Some people might consider that an invasion of privacy, but I find it comforting to know that, should my air bag deploy, they know where I am and can send help."
What he fails to mention is they will send lawyers, an airbag repair service and a tollbooth squeegee guy long before they refer any medical personal to the scene.
Microsoft is king of the home user desktop, while AOL is king of home user internet. With each subsequent version, AOL is becoming less service-like and more like a OS. And now that Microsoft is making their OS more like a service in XP, M$ and AOL and virtually merging their products.
Microsoft and AOL/Time Warner have equivalent products on many fronts:
Internet Explorer vs. Netscape
MSN vs. AOL dialup
AIM vs. MSN Messenger
Media Player vs. Winamp
and in XP - Outlook vs. AOL's e-mail and calendar(?)
It would seem to be only a matter of time before we have a Micro$oft AOL/Time Warner merger. Or some sketchy deal that essentially does the same thing. Embedding AOL 6 into XP is only the first step.
I think, more important than entertainment, is that technology like this will someday make wheelchairs obsolete.
Right now a wheelchair that can climb stairs runs about 25 grand... But imagine attaching robotic 'legs' (maybe just supports?) to someone paralized from the waist down, allowing them the freedom they had before they were paralized!
It would seem, based on the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, that our quantum computer will exist as a wave until we look at it. And even then we won't be certain where it is...
...so it's a good thing it can work without being turned on, because how are we gonna find the power switch anyway???
I think we all knew, going into the tech industry, that long hours are part of the trade, though not always. While hours and cost of living are crucial, what about asking
Do you feel well paid for the hours you work?
Do you find ways to make your time at the office more enjoyable?
Do you feel respected & appreciated for your time and work?
Do you feel challenged at your job?
I just graduated as the tech market tanked - and myself and many of my friends either lost our jobs with a few weeks or had offers we had accepted withdrawn before we even started. Though I feel underpaid, right now I am happy to be employed, able to pay the bills, and to do my job well.
I don't mind the hours - I work only 55-60 a week, but even more just before a release. *But* just about everyone works long hard hours, from the cleaning staff to the checkers at the coffee shop all the way up to our ceo. We are all paid very differently - not based on how hard we work - everyone is busting their butt - but our level of expertise. It is easy to forget there are billions of people getting by with much less but working at least as hard...
I haven't been at my job long enough to know if my accomplishments will be appreciated. I guess I will find out at my performance/comp review. The people I work with a nice, intelligent and good fooze ball players:-) My only complaint is lack of a challenge. I didn't go into the tech industry for the money (though it is nice), but because I love the intellectual stimilation, the theoretical problems and obscure issues perhaps only a computer science major can love. But I teach myself and program more interesting things on my own time, and of course, there is always/.!
I think we all knew, going into the tech industry, that long hours are part of the trade. While hours and cost of living are crucial, what about asking
Do you feel well paid for the hours you work?
Do you find ways to make your time at the office more enjoyable?
Do you feel respected & appreciated for your time and work?
Do you feel challenged at your job?
I just graduated as the tech market tanked - and myself and many of my friends either lost our jobs with a few weeks or had offers we had accepted withdrawn before we even started. Though I feel underpaid, right now I am happy to be employed, able to pay the bills, and to do my job well.
I don't mind the hours - I work only 55-60 a week, but even more just before a release. *But* just about everyone works long hard hours, from the cleaning staff to the checkers at the coffee shop all the way up to our ceo. We are all paid very differently - not based on how hard we work - everyone is busting their butt - but our level of expertise. It is easy to forget there are billions of people getting by with much less but working at least as hard...
I haven't been at my job long enough to know if my accomplishments will be appreciated. I guess I will find out at my performance/comp review. The people I work with a nice, intelligent and good fooze ball players:-) My only complaint is lack of a challenge. I didn't go into the tech industry for the money (though it is nice), but because I love the intellectual stimilation, the theoretical problems and obscure issues perhaps only a computer science major can love. But I teach myself and program more interesting things on my own time, and of course, there is always/.!
I take it this book is write once, read anywhere??
Seriously, though - what you get out of a book is what you put into it. No book is a complete reference and doing the "extra leg-work" to fill in the gaps is the difference between reading a book because you love what you do, and reading a book because your boss told you to.
Right now, there is tons of advertising and no privacy, but the sites are free.
With subscription service, we will have at least as much advertising, less privacy, and it's no longer free.
The quality of the content and services will have to improve before more than a very small percentage people are willing to pay.
I liked the suggestion of paying users getting ad-free content, but it is only a matter of time before companies "supplement" the subscription revenue with advertising.
I worked for 2 years in tech support, both answering phones, making house-calls and untimately as a supervisor. This situation is not as simple as the post makes it sound.
A major problem in tech support is everyone that calls is unhappy. Few are understanding that you are doing your best to fix their problem. It is not my job "to be yelled at because you are frustrated." It is not the support staff's fault the user messed something up, the programmers did something wrong or the testing staff wasn't thorough. That being said... it is not the job of tech support to teach users how to "right-click," copy files or even "double-click." I tend to believe the humorous tech support horror stories, mainly because the solution to one of our user's problems was "turn the computer on."
Overwhelmingly, many of the calls we handled involved items the user could have gotten step by step instructions for fixing if they had looked at our web pages. We asked each caller if they had checked out FAQ. Many said no, some lied and said yes. A few had honestly tried those solutions and they hadn't worked. The bottom line is many users want the solution spoon fed to them instead of typing the error into a search engine or checking the FAQ of the software or hardware vendor first.
Why is tech support "lacking?" User expectations do not match what it costs the company to provide that level of service. Between training, man-hours (*the biggie*), technical resources, tracking and auditing, etc., tech support is extremely expensive. There has been a dramatic push in recent years to move toward web based support, but as I said above, that leads to unhappy users who feel abandonded because they don't want, or are afraid, to look into the problem themselves.
Companies that charge for tech support are doing it right. They put the burden on the users that don't look up problems themselves to pay for their own "in-person" support. Of course, there are plenty of companies that Make crappy $oftware and charge for tech support. They suck.
Hubble images are just an illusion. You can't "look through the eyepiece" on the hubble telescope.
To increase interest, publicity and funding, NASA started making the images more colorful and bright, instead of accurate. Often, the images would have no color at all. If you read the fine print, most images are colorized by temperature, and NASA uses bright colors to make the images look more awesome than they really are.
Don't get me wrong, I think this stuff is amazing, but they are just pretty conputer generated pictures of data sent from a telescope.
Slashdot Mirror
how about: ..."
"Shoshkeles, named for the middle daughter of their creator,
from http://www.unitedvirtualities.com/press.htm
Java and C# are both "closed" languages controlled by large corporate entities with their own self-interests in mind
.Net Passport or else"
.Net - it essentially gives Microsoft the right to modify the application at any time, with out notifying you. Oh, and these upgrades might not be free! The bottom line? Microsoft is going to decide sometime in the future to cut you off, and then make you pay. And you would trust these people not to do the same with C#??
Agreed - but Java at least attempts "write once, run anywhere," (with debatable success) whereas M$ C# attempts "write once, run on Windows XP, with Windows Messenger and a
I have a lot more faith trusting my applications and business to a company that isn't trying to take over every purchasing decision we make. If you have read the fine print that comes with Windows messenger - the other half of
One day your app or service isn't going to run, and all you see in your logs will be "Call Miscrosoft to obtain a license to run C#"
but they allow the ad companies to track you in real time... from their privacy policy:
"...SilentSurf.com features its own banner ads at the very top and bottom of every page. You should be aware that SilentSurf.com does not serve or control those banners, which are served by independent Internet advertising firms. Those firms may send cookies to your browser, track your IP address, or attempt to capture or control other information about your browser or web surfing session. "
I suppose you could use a proxy like AdSubtract to get rid of those...
How come we all love one blood sucking parasite's catch phase but no one likes "Where do you want to go today?"
...maybe because the tick is more insightful than ol' billyboy:
"Well, once again, my friend, we find that science is a two-headed beast. One head is nice, it gives us aspirin and other modern conveniences... But the other head of science is bad! Oh, beware the other head of science, Arthur! It bites!"
<40Ar test>
Question 1:
How old ARe you? 40? _______
</40Ar test>
I swear your honor, she said she was 18...
Excellent! So it's okay to copy mp3's as long as we don't view them.
RC
And it's only a matter of time before some sorority girls start up a "space cam" in their hotel room. Now the question is, who will be the first to join the "100 miles high" club?
RC
Yes, video games are the real problem... at least we can still play lasertag, or paintball, or go shooting at a range with a parent...
And I suppose racing games made me a bad driver.
And WarCraft made me want to plot World War III
And after all the Super Marios, I thought A. I was a raccoon, and B. eating wild mushrooms was a good thing
Are these laws thought up by the same people who try to ban books?
RC
Especially with the decline in internet advertising demand, rates and revenue, agencies are focusing less on the click-through metric and more on "branding."
Much like traditional "highway billboard" advertising - where the number of impressions is nothing more than an estimate of how many people drive by, brand recognition in invaluable on the internet even if people don't click on the text or banner ad. There is value in advertisements even with a low click-through rate.
RC
Click through a page watch a 10 sec ad. Continue on. Or pay the site and skip the ad's ya know like tv but with options?????
I don't know what kind of TV you watch , but I can see it now...
<baseball game>
pitch on the way... [cut to shameless plug] - (stay tuned to see if the batter swings!)
</baseball game>
RC
NASA - Engineers this week discovered the robotic arm on the new space station ceased functioning when they failed to register RoboticArm XP with Microsoft before it was used 15 times. As a result, the robotic arm only boots into a "safe mode." This activates the breaks and the arm does not move. A Micro$oft spokesperson referred to this lack of movement and functionality as evident Micro$soft is providing NASA with the "most secure robotic arm product ever."
After registering RoboticArm XP, engineers eventually had to replace a troublesome joint in the arm as well. The hardware change required NASA engineers to call Micro$oft and convince them RoboticArm XP was not being installed on a new robotic space station arm but in fact, on the same robotic space station arm with a new joint.
Shares of Micro$soft were up an 1/8th on news they actually sold a copy of RoboticArm XP.
RC
"I have agreed to let my car company, for instance, track my every move through GPS satellites. Some people might consider that an invasion of privacy, but I find it comforting to know that, should my air bag deploy, they know where I am and can send help."
What he fails to mention is they will send lawyers, an airbag repair service and a tollbooth squeegee guy long before they refer any medical personal to the scene.
RC
Microsoft is king of the home user desktop, while AOL is king of home user internet. With each subsequent version, AOL is becoming less service-like and more like a OS. And now that Microsoft is making their OS more like a service in XP, M$ and AOL and virtually merging their products.
Microsoft and AOL/Time Warner have equivalent products on many fronts:
It would seem to be only a matter of time before we have a Micro$oft AOL/Time Warner merger. Or some sketchy deal that essentially does the same thing. Embedding AOL 6 into XP is only the first step.
I believe this is what M$ calls innovation????
RC
My boss has a wireless keyboard and he caught me sniffing it this morning. It definately wasn't worth it - it just smelled like coffee.
I know this is coming up in my performance eval...
RC
I think, more important than entertainment, is that technology like this will someday make wheelchairs obsolete.
Right now a wheelchair that can climb stairs runs about 25 grand... But imagine attaching robotic 'legs' (maybe just supports?) to someone paralized from the waist down, allowing them the freedom they had before they were paralized!
RC
It would seem, based on the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, that our quantum computer will exist as a wave until we look at it. And even then we won't be certain where it is...
...so it's a good thing it can work without being turned on, because how are we gonna find the power switch anyway???
RC
for those of you unfamiliar with this case, fair use is defined by the MPAA as anything you can do with a DVD, but would is a complete waste of time.
note: fair use does not cover anything you would actually want to do with a DVD you paid for.
RC
I think we all knew, going into the tech industry, that long hours are part of the trade, though not always. While hours and cost of living are crucial, what about asking
I just graduated as the tech market tanked - and myself and many of my friends either lost our jobs with a few weeks or had offers we had accepted withdrawn before we even started. Though I feel underpaid, right now I am happy to be employed, able to pay the bills, and to do my job well.
I don't mind the hours - I work only 55-60 a week, but even more just before a release. *But* just about everyone works long hard hours, from the cleaning staff to the checkers at the coffee shop all the way up to our ceo. We are all paid very differently - not based on how hard we work - everyone is busting their butt - but our level of expertise. It is easy to forget there are billions of people getting by with much less but working at least as hard...
I haven't been at my job long enough to know if my accomplishments will be appreciated. I guess I will find out at my performance/comp review. The people I work with a nice, intelligent and good fooze ball players :-) My only complaint is lack of a challenge. I didn't go into the tech industry for the money (though it is nice), but because I love the intellectual stimilation, the theoretical problems and obscure issues perhaps only a computer science major can love. But I teach myself and program more interesting things on my own time, and of course, there is always /.!
RC
I think we all knew, going into the tech industry, that long hours are part of the trade. While hours and cost of living are crucial, what about asking
I just graduated as the tech market tanked - and myself and many of my friends either lost our jobs with a few weeks or had offers we had accepted withdrawn before we even started. Though I feel underpaid, right now I am happy to be employed, able to pay the bills, and to do my job well.
I don't mind the hours - I work only 55-60 a week, but even more just before a release. *But* just about everyone works long hard hours, from the cleaning staff to the checkers at the coffee shop all the way up to our ceo. We are all paid very differently - not based on how hard we work - everyone is busting their butt - but our level of expertise. It is easy to forget there are billions of people getting by with much less but working at least as hard...
I haven't been at my job long enough to know if my accomplishments will be appreciated. I guess I will find out at my performance/comp review. The people I work with a nice, intelligent and good fooze ball players :-) My only complaint is lack of a challenge. I didn't go into the tech industry for the money (though it is nice), but because I love the intellectual stimilation, the theoretical problems and obscure issues perhaps only a computer science major can love. But I teach myself and program more interesting things on my own time, and of course, there is always /.!
RC
I take it this book is write once, read anywhere??
Seriously, though - what you get out of a book is what you put into it. No book is a complete reference and doing the "extra leg-work" to fill in the gaps is the difference between reading a book because you love what you do, and reading a book because your boss told you to.
RC
Right now, there is tons of advertising and no privacy, but the sites are free.
With subscription service, we will have at least as much advertising, less privacy, and it's no longer free.
The quality of the content and services will have to improve before more than a very small percentage people are willing to pay.
I liked the suggestion of paying users getting ad-free content, but it is only a matter of time before companies "supplement" the subscription revenue with advertising.
RC
Lisp(taught(me(to(count(parenthesis))))))))))))))
RC
I worked for 2 years in tech support, both answering phones, making house-calls and untimately as a supervisor. This situation is not as simple as the post makes it sound.
A major problem in tech support is everyone that calls is unhappy. Few are understanding that you are doing your best to fix their problem. It is not my job "to be yelled at because you are frustrated." It is not the support staff's fault the user messed something up, the programmers did something wrong or the testing staff wasn't thorough. That being said... it is not the job of tech support to teach users how to "right-click," copy files or even "double-click." I tend to believe the humorous tech support horror stories, mainly because the solution to one of our user's problems was "turn the computer on."
Overwhelmingly, many of the calls we handled involved items the user could have gotten step by step instructions for fixing if they had looked at our web pages. We asked each caller if they had checked out FAQ. Many said no, some lied and said yes. A few had honestly tried those solutions and they hadn't worked. The bottom line is many users want the solution spoon fed to them instead of typing the error into a search engine or checking the FAQ of the software or hardware vendor first.
Why is tech support "lacking?" User expectations do not match what it costs the company to provide that level of service. Between training, man-hours (*the biggie*), technical resources, tracking and auditing, etc., tech support is extremely expensive. There has been a dramatic push in recent years to move toward web based support, but as I said above, that leads to unhappy users who feel abandonded because they don't want, or are afraid, to look into the problem themselves.
Companies that charge for tech support are doing it right. They put the burden on the users that don't look up problems themselves to pay for their own "in-person" support. Of course, there are plenty of companies that Make crappy $oftware and charge for tech support. They suck.
RC
Hubble images are just an illusion. You can't "look through the eyepiece" on the hubble telescope.
To increase interest, publicity and funding, NASA started making the images more colorful and bright, instead of accurate. Often, the images would have no color at all. If you read the fine print, most images are colorized by temperature, and NASA uses bright colors to make the images look more awesome than they really are.
Don't get me wrong, I think this stuff is amazing, but they are just pretty conputer generated pictures of data sent from a telescope.
not to mention
I'm making my stage name "Long Hours."