So, let me get this straight: any technology I don't use daily must be obsolete or useless?
I don't use 3D Studio Max every day. It's obsolete!
Hey! I also don't really read Spider-Man comics on a regular basis anymore. I guess the character was just a fad....and I haven't really got a chance to dig into the Python programming language, so it must be useless as well. Just hype. Obviously overrated.
Extreme programming is a incredibly idiotic idea, so other things - although unrelated except for the fact that I dislike them or don't understand them - must also be idiotic ideas.
"Making a comparatively huge wage for years, then spending a while unemployed before making another (comparatively) huge wage is much better than being forced to work in a tedious, menial, or back-breaking job for your whole life with no hope of ever escaping abject poverty."
That's the whole point. This is reality for many in the United States, not just overseas.
If the students come up with good ideas, the record labels can steal them. So, the students will create great ideas only to have them stolen by corporations and distibuted for free by online traders.
"Maybe I won't create the greatest apps overnight, but next week is just fine. Plus I have a healthy relationship with my 2 year old son, a beautiful wife, and another child on the way."
Nearly every business application I have worked on in the past year uses XML in a large way. It's usually the most convenient, efficient and cross-language method for transferring pieces of data. Most of the applications I use it for are.NET to Java and vice-versa. Quick and painless iplementation.
I would agree that Microsoft was adept at replacing the language of Visual Basic, but they really haven't "destroyed" their other languages...Visual J++ was never widely adopted, and Visual C++ hasn't changed radically.
C#, VB.net and Java are much closer than ever. The major difference ( to me ) is the ease of use in the IDE for C# and VB.net. A lot of the things I used to use Java for I can now accomplish in.NET, and deployment is much better than the clunky interface of VB 6. Honestly, in a business environment, anytime I need more than VB.net or C#, I'm probably going to use C++, not Java. The advantages ( such as VB 6's inability to use variables smaller than bytes ) are pretty much gone.
"Its time people understand this "community" is NO DIFFERENT then others."
Let's see:
Slashdot: favors open source Most communites: do not even know what open source means, nor why it should matter.
Slashdot: favors Linux Most communities: favors email and AIM on Windows
Slashdot: opposes the RIAA Most communities: love that Brittany Spears!
Yeah, you've got your finger on the pulse there. Slashdot's got the same percentage of political views as every other community. That's why there are so many Slashdot clones out there fighting for our visits.
If you want to believe that Americans are losing their jobs to inferior non-U.S. programmers, you have your head in the sand. Their work is not inferior. Not by a long shot. In fact, I have to say that in my experience working with a LOT of Korean, Chinese, and Indian programmers, that very few - VERY few - American programmers have any real skills by comparison. For every great American programmer, I can name 5 Indian programmers of equal or nearly equal skill. If I can count that up, you can bet that CIOs can count it up as well.
The U.S. created much of the technology in use around the world today, but Indian and Chinese shops are filled with very hungry workers who are busting their butts to be better programmers than any American programmer. Theirs is not a luxury of choosing the best benefits package, people. Some workers in China are fined if they leave their work chair slightly askew.
American IT love to be arrogant, bent on condescending attitudes and poor communication skills. Those will be the first to lost their jobs. And, they will be very vocal about it. But they will either have to adapt or move on.
I have no excuses for myself in the face of such competition. The profile of J. Random Hacker is accurate in the idea that I.T. is embraced as a form of mental kung-fu, and while I respect those I face in competition, only by working even harder to be of greater value to corporations will I remain employed.
I have always admired the hunger shown by immigrant and non-U.S. workers and vowed long ago that I would not fall into the trap of so many of my fellow Americans by taking my citizenship and opportunity for granted. No excuses allowed. Too many people came before me and died so that I could have the opportunity offered me, and I'm certainly not going to go down putting out half-ass code.
Welcome to the real world, kids. Adapt or die, but stop whining and name calling, because it won't get you your job back.
Scott McCloud has published a bestselling book. It was about comics, but is was far more of a bestseller in the mainstream than almost any work about comics can normally expect.
Seinfeld had NBC to market him; McCloud had the NY Times bestseller list. Neither would have been mentioned if they hadn't already been known commodities.
The rule is simple, but so many people try to argue around paying ( or charging ) for anything.
If you try to charge for something creatively generated...be it software, art, music or whatever, someone somewhere will pull out the Elsworth Toohey method of attack and claim your brainchild should be public domain.
Conversely, too many people think they can charge astronomical prices for minimal or poor content. I like Scott McCloud's work, but 25 cents seems like a lot per comic strip. So, if 25 cents is too much, would people pay 5 cents? 10 cents?
Mr. Shirky's arguments have the taint of someone who desperately wants to prove that you can't charge for anything that doesn't come with a big business label on it. Otherwise, give it away, it belongs to everyone. His arguments have some merit regarding micropayments and their effect of making consumers choose, but his general tact is that micropayments won't work because people are used to getting it for free ( and that distibution costs nothing to artists ) is making use of informal logic. If Jerry Seinfeld produced new 30 second episodes of Seinfeld and charged people $2 to view it, I'm not so sure people wouldn't flock to ante up. I'd probably pay to read Scott Kurtz'z PVP ( www.pvponline.com ). I've enjoyed reading it, usually every day. It's far superior to most of the comics in the daily newspaper, and I pay for those.
The simple truth is, we all have limited funds, so yes, if someone charges for something, we will have to be discriminating with our dollars. But, if the person is producing something worth buying, then pay them. The artist is always getting 'free distribution' as Mr. Shirky seems to believe. Creating a comic is no different on concept than writing great software or producing great music. It takes more than time, it often takes actual education, materials, research, etc. If someone wants to give away their art for free, wonderful. But if someone wants to charge, it's understandable.
Just when you think maybe true business suits have successfully infiltrated the technology market, something like this happens. Note to techies running coporations: There is a reason that Nike hasn't become NikeOne and Wal-Mart isn't Wal-MartOne...
I agree. Installing Linux is easy, sifting through mountains of manpages to figure out minor items is not. This is where Microsoft beats the competition; Their product quality may be by and large suspect, their technical documentation nonexistent, but they let the 99% of computer users get just what they want, easily: word processing, email and the web. Linux hasn't even come close to meeting the consumer need for ease of use in the areas most important to the masses.It's good and bad, I suppose, dependent on POV...it means Linux still has loads of opportunity, but it also means all the hard work and improvements in Linux are being lost in the success of the Microsoft vanilla sales pitch.
Best Buy is a shining example of retailing done wrong, successfully. You can treat customers like crap, employees even worse, stock a smattering of electronics, and you can rake in the dough. A Best Buy store can easily take in over $400,000 a day in revenue at Christmas time.
And yet, when I look for computer equipment from a mainstream retailer, there is little competition for Best Buy. Circuit City? Please. Circuit City makes Best Buy look like the king of the world in electronics. Wal-Mart can't deliver the floor space. So Best Buy gobbles up market share.
It's absolutely astounding that companies such as Microsoft and Best Buy can simultaneously produce poor products and service while leading the industry in standards.
If you read the article, Microsoft bought Timeline's biggest competitor and tried to develop technologies that would replace Timeline's. Amazingly, even though Microsoft has the resources to buy companies they can't develop anything worthwhile on their own?
Slashdot Mirror
So, let me get this straight: any technology I don't use daily must be obsolete or useless?
...and I haven't really got a chance to dig into the Python programming language, so it must be useless as well. Just hype. Obviously overrated.
I don't use 3D Studio Max every day. It's obsolete!
Hey! I also don't really read Spider-Man comics on a regular basis anymore. I guess the character was just a fad.
Extreme programming is a incredibly idiotic idea, so other things - although unrelated except for the fact that I dislike them or don't understand them - must also be idiotic ideas.
"Making a comparatively huge wage for years, then spending a while unemployed before making another (comparatively) huge wage is much better than being forced to work in a tedious, menial, or back-breaking job for your whole life with no hope of ever escaping abject poverty."
That's the whole point. This is reality for many in the United States, not just overseas.
To the autodialer!
I think it would be more accurate that it's a list of 50,000,000 potential plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit.
I'm glad I'm on it. I already know how to say 'no' when they call.
If the students come up with good ideas, the record labels can steal them. So, the students will create great ideas only to have them stolen by corporations and distibuted for free by online traders.
I can't imagine a better real-world education.
"Maybe I won't create the greatest apps overnight, but next week is just fine. Plus I have a healthy relationship with my 2 year old son, a beautiful wife, and another child on the way."
It just needed repeating. Hear, hear.
Nearly every business application I have worked on in the past year uses XML in a large way. It's usually the most convenient, efficient and cross-language method for transferring pieces of data. Most of the applications I use it for are .NET to Java and vice-versa. Quick and painless iplementation.
I would agree that Microsoft was adept at replacing the language of Visual Basic, but they really haven't "destroyed" their other languages...Visual J++ was never widely adopted, and Visual C++ hasn't changed radically.
.NET, and deployment is much better than the clunky interface of VB 6. Honestly, in a business environment, anytime I need more than VB.net or C#, I'm probably going to use C++, not Java. The advantages ( such as VB 6's inability to use variables smaller than bytes ) are pretty much gone.
C#, VB.net and Java are much closer than ever. The major difference ( to me ) is the ease of use in the IDE for C# and VB.net. A lot of the things I used to use Java for I can now accomplish in
"Its time people understand this "community" is NO DIFFERENT then others."
Let's see:
Slashdot: favors open source
Most communites: do not even know what open source means, nor why it should matter.
Slashdot: favors Linux
Most communities: favors email and AIM on Windows
Slashdot: opposes the RIAA
Most communities: love that Brittany Spears!
Yeah, you've got your finger on the pulse there. Slashdot's got the same percentage of political views as every other community. That's why there are so many Slashdot clones out there fighting for our visits.
FWIW,I bought and read Scott's .25 online comic. It was better than a lot of comics I've paid $3 for.
First, a dose of reality:
If you want to believe that Americans are losing their jobs to inferior non-U.S. programmers, you have your head in the sand. Their work is not inferior. Not by a long shot. In fact, I have to say that in my experience working with a LOT of Korean, Chinese, and Indian programmers, that very few - VERY few - American programmers have any real skills by comparison. For every great American programmer, I can name 5 Indian programmers of equal or nearly equal skill. If I can count that up, you can bet that CIOs can count it up as well.
The U.S. created much of the technology in use around the world today, but Indian and Chinese shops are filled with very hungry workers who are busting their butts to be better programmers than any American programmer. Theirs is not a luxury of choosing the best benefits package, people. Some workers in China are fined if they leave their work chair slightly askew.
American IT love to be arrogant, bent on condescending attitudes and poor communication skills. Those will be the first to lost their jobs. And, they will be very vocal about it. But they will either have to adapt or move on.
I have no excuses for myself in the face of such competition. The profile of J. Random Hacker is accurate in the idea that I.T. is embraced as a form of mental kung-fu, and while I respect those I face in competition, only by working even harder to be of greater value to corporations will I remain employed.
I have always admired the hunger shown by immigrant and non-U.S. workers and vowed long ago that I would not fall into the trap of so many of my fellow Americans by taking my citizenship and opportunity for granted. No excuses allowed. Too many people came before me and died so that I could have the opportunity offered me, and I'm certainly not going to go down putting out half-ass code.
Welcome to the real world, kids. Adapt or die, but stop whining and name calling, because it won't get you your job back.
There was a middleman in both scenarios.
Scott McCloud has published a bestselling book. It was about comics, but is was far more of a bestseller in the mainstream than almost any work about comics can normally expect.
Seinfeld had NBC to market him; McCloud had the NY Times bestseller list. Neither would have been mentioned if they hadn't already been known commodities.
The rule is simple, but so many people try to argue around paying ( or charging ) for anything.
If you try to charge for something creatively generated...be it software, art, music or whatever, someone somewhere will pull out the Elsworth Toohey method of attack and claim your brainchild should be public domain.
Conversely, too many people think they can charge astronomical prices for minimal or poor content. I like Scott McCloud's work, but 25 cents seems like a lot per comic strip. So, if 25 cents is too much, would people pay 5 cents? 10 cents?
Mr. Shirky's arguments have the taint of someone who desperately wants to prove that you can't charge for anything that doesn't come with a big business label on it. Otherwise, give it away, it belongs to everyone.
His arguments have some merit regarding micropayments and their effect of making consumers choose, but his general tact is that micropayments won't work because people are used to getting it for free ( and that distibution costs nothing to artists ) is making use of informal logic. If Jerry Seinfeld produced new 30 second episodes of Seinfeld and charged people $2 to view it, I'm not so sure people wouldn't flock to ante up. I'd probably pay to read Scott Kurtz'z PVP ( www.pvponline.com ). I've enjoyed reading it, usually every day. It's far superior to most of the comics in the daily newspaper, and I pay for those.
The simple truth is, we all have limited funds, so yes, if someone charges for something, we will have to be discriminating with our dollars. But, if the person is producing
something worth buying, then pay them. The artist is always getting 'free distribution' as Mr. Shirky seems to believe. Creating a comic is no different on concept than writing great software or producing great music. It takes more than time, it often takes actual education, materials, research, etc. If someone wants to give away their art for free, wonderful. But if someone wants to charge, it's understandable.
Just when you think maybe true business suits have successfully infiltrated the technology market, something like this happens. Note to techies running coporations: There is a reason that Nike hasn't become NikeOne and Wal-Mart isn't Wal-MartOne...
I agree. Installing Linux is easy, sifting through mountains of manpages to figure out minor items is not. This is where Microsoft beats the competition; Their product quality may be by and large suspect, their technical documentation nonexistent, but they let the 99% of computer users get just what they want, easily: word processing, email and the web. Linux hasn't even come close to meeting the consumer need for ease of use in the areas most important to the masses.It's good and bad, I suppose, dependent on POV...it means Linux still has loads of opportunity, but it also means all the hard work and improvements in Linux are being lost in the success of the Microsoft vanilla sales pitch.
At takes a lot more guts to admit what you like as opposed to what you don't like.
I like the logo ships. They look pretty damn good. I wish I had 'em, I'd be wooshing around the office right now.
Would you rather no one ever tried Linux?
Best Buy is a shining example of retailing done wrong, successfully. You can treat customers like crap, employees even worse, stock a smattering of electronics, and you can rake in the dough. A Best Buy store can easily take in over $400,000 a day in revenue at Christmas time.
And yet, when I look for computer equipment from a mainstream retailer, there is little competition for Best Buy. Circuit City? Please. Circuit City makes Best Buy look like the king of the world in electronics. Wal-Mart can't deliver the floor space. So Best Buy gobbles up market share.
It's absolutely astounding that companies such as Microsoft and Best Buy can simultaneously produce poor products and service while leading the industry in standards.
I think your analogy is excellent.
Makes sense to me...seems like a pretty clever for someone who wanted to keep 'illegal' material to store it on OTHER people's boxes.
Not to mention having Leonardo Dicaprio play him in a movie loosely based on his crimes.
A rogue hacker that gets caught and CONVICTED five times isn't worth hiring for security.
Didn't Mitnick get the hell knowcked of his server with a DNS attack?
Who did he call for help? Gibson?
If you read the article, Microsoft bought Timeline's biggest competitor and tried to develop technologies that would replace Timeline's. Amazingly, even though Microsoft has the resources to buy companies they can't develop anything worthwhile on their own?
And Linux. Lots and lots of Linux in every conversation, regardless of topic.
There, I did my part.
How about John Coltrane or T. Monk? Maya Angelou? Birthplace of the civil rights movement?