If Chris at Introversion can write a cool game like Uplink in his apartment after working a full time job then there is still hope. The difference is that Introversion saw that while the graphics in games have become more and more impressive the actual gameplay has suffered.
I saw the same thing when I worked at Software Sorcery (producers of Sea Rogue, Jutland, Aegis, Guardian of the fleet, Conqueror 1086). As the graphics got better the games were less and less fun (i.e. boring) Do we really need another MMP 1st person shooter? Or another MMP strategy game?
Disclaimer: I'm one of those freaks who, when given the choice of playing computer games or going outside for a hike, usually chooses to go outside. YMMV.
The article that was banned from "Extremem Rocketry" magazine was not about cardboard tube rockets. Extreme rocketry is about metal rockets with very powerful solid fuel engines (or sometimes hydrogen peroxide based chemical engines). They go so high as to make an Estes rocket look like a paper airplane.
This is not to say that it still isn't a stupid, paranoid thing to try to block an article from being published. But the original Slashdot article and the resulting comments should at least comment on what is actually happening.
Base your comments on what the article actually says, not what slashdot told you it said.
almost all these games are over a year old. If I want to play games, I'll use Windows. If I want to get work done, I'll run Linux. It just doesn't make since to use a screwdriver to pound in a nail.
No No No! You young people have no appriciation of the proper use of tools.
Screwdrivers are used to chop a mortise for a door hinge.
A chisel is for opening paint cans.
A hammer is for driving screws IN.
Pliers are for taking screws OUT.
The difference, according to Steve Lopez's T-Notes articles (Free registration required), is that Fritz 6, 7, and 8 as well as all the other ChessBase engines are now vastly stronger at positional play. This means that while they may not look as many plys (half moves) ahead in the same amount of time, they are able to see non-tactical advantages better. After Kramnick's match he said "You use to be able to play "anti-computer chess." But not any more. These computers are playing real chess".
In Kasparov's match against Deep Blue Garry thought that there was human intervention on 2 moves because the computer ignored a tactical advantage, which would have lead to a draw, for a positional advantage which lead to a win. The modern programs would be more likely to see that kind of move.
But he says that those extensions were put in to improve Java on Windows, not to pollute Java. "What they liked about Java was that it was easier to write applications in it. They liked it better as a programming language. And so they said, 'Let's make Java a good way to write a Windows application.' And of all the stuff that's been said of what Microsoft did to Java, it's good to point out that they did make a better version of Java.
This is typical Microsoft FUD. It completly ignores the fact that by licensing the right to build a JVM Microsoft had agreed to essentially 2 things: "Implement all of the JVM spec", and "Don't implement anything more than the spec". The first rule insures that Java apps written on other OSs will run on Windows. The 2nd rule insures that Java apps written on Windows will run on other OSs.
But many say that just because Java did fall flat on its face, and just because Microsoft pushed it a little here and there, one can't conclude that Microsoft deserves all the blame. Java, people point out, had a slow graphical interface and generally poor performance
This has more to do with perpetuating an impression that was correct 4 years ago than actual truth today. Take, for example, the programming editor Jext. I use it every day. It's fast, it works great, and it looks and feels exactly the same on Windows as it does in Linux.
On a recent programming challenge on coderforums.net a java program that randomized one million numbers and then sorted them ran faster than the same implementation in C.
"There's a lot of people who say that Microsoft wanted to kill Java" because it was "write-once, run-anywhere," he says. "But really, people at Microsoft just thought that was a ridiculous notion, and they didn't pay any attention to it. They said, 'For technological reasons, we don't think write-once will work."
More likely the truth is that "Write Once Run Anywhere" makes the operating system irrelevant. Imagine if people were able to buy a product with one CD that would run on Windows, Linux, Mac OS, IBM's AIX and Sun Solaris. People would be able to make a decision on what operating system to use based on the merits of the OS, not the availability of software.That is what scares the hell out of Microsoft.
Kasparov's Reaction & chess geek link
on
Behind Deep Blue
·
· Score: 4, Informative
One thing I'd like to learn from the book is what was IBM's reaction to Kasparov's accusation that one of their Grandmaster consultants made a move. I can't remember which game it was but there was one game that Kasparov was sure that he was playing the software right up until one move when he was absolutly sure that a human had interveened.
Also, if you're interested in chess programs from a programmer point of view this link has quite a few links to various tutorials on chess playing algorithms as well as many different free Winboard engines.
And just to point out the benefits of publishing Free As In Beer books: I've downloaded "Thinking In Java" (as have all my interns) just as FortKnox mentioned above. And yet, I've also purchased both the original and the 2nd edition paper version books (as have many of my interns). Why? Because it's still way easier to flip through a dead tree version of a book in order to find things. It's still easier to toss a paper book in your backpack and it's certainly easier to read the print and diagrams.
Now, I must say that I have several e-books on my Visor and that works out just great when I go to lunch and want to read something while I eat. But I certainly wouldn't want to try to relax in bed at night while trying to read that tiny print on a dark screen. So I think what we have here is the idea of a new technology which is still valid, but the implementation of that technology hasn't caught up with the idea. Give me a cheap e-book reader the size and weight of a paperback book with high quality fonts on a readable background with enough memory to hold a couple dozen books and e-books would be seriously take off!
That's actually true. In one of the games (either 5 or 6 I think) Frit's engineers had to reboot their computer and put Fritz in single processor mode because it seemed that the multiprocessor mode was crashing the software.
The article was on the chessbase site. www.chessbase.com
"Offline" people, the "Nonusers" of digital music, then the "Dabblers" who have tried it but do it infrequently, the "Digital Music Learners" who do some (downloads, rips, or burns 3 to 8 times a month), and finally, the "Digital Music Lovers" (over 9 times a month).
So if I rip a CD I'm lumped into the same catagory as those who download copywrited music? Every time I buy a CD the first thing I do is to rip it so I can listen to it on my computer while my CDRom is being used as a CDRom, not a CD Player. Nothing about ripping music I already paid for is against the law.
"If just half of the blank discs sold in 2001 were used to copy music, that would mean that the number of burned music CDs worldwide is about the same as the number of CDs sold at retail."
That is a statement with absolutly no statistical backbone. I just said that I rip every CD I buy. I then make my own CD's with my own mix of music. Once again, nothing illegal. And yet the RIAA wants to use that statistic to show that I'm a "pirate".
"...over 50 percent of those music fans that have downloaded music for free have made copies of it.
Yep, and I'm part of that 50%. But I still didn't break the law because I downloaded the songs legaly from Amazon.com or epitonic.com or any number of artist websites that give away free music. Once again the RIAA lumps legal behavior in with illegal behavior in an attempt to boost their statistics. I don't have a single illegal mp3 on my computer, but once again, I'm lumped in with the "pirates".
While Bricklin missed pointing out these statistical errors at least he did point out some other significant points:
CD prices have gone up significantly.
Radio and MTV are presenting a narrower selection of music.
The obvious answer there is to support college radio and internet radio. Present more choices to the customer and they'll buy more. And yet the RIAA is killing both!
Unfortunatly, in this country rather than letting an absolete industry die a well deserved death we'll probably prop it up with more unconstitutional laws and continue to prosecute the industry's most faithful consumers as prirates. The record industry keeps shooting itself in the foot and then blames it's customers for making it pull the trigger. It's pathetic.
A buddy of mine, Bob Culbertson, http://www.stickmusic.com/ has sold over 100,000 cds at parks, coffee houses, seminars, local jazz festivals, anywhere he can play. He makes his living teaching music and playing live (and selling his CDs). So it can be done. Another buddy of mine, Greg Howard www.greghoward.com does the same thing.
Are you trying to make a living playing music or are do you want to be the next Bon Jovi? They're very different goals and unfortunatly the record industry won't let you be like Bon Jovi (or any other multi-million selling band) unless you sound like something they already know they can sell. Yes, they're idiots and they couldn't recognize good music if it punched them in the face, but that's the reality.
Now, if you want to make a living playing music then you're well on your way. It sounds like you have enough local support that you can start expanding your geographic sphere of influence. If you're music is popular and you're getting good crowd reactions then you can certainly build up enough gigs within a 100 miles or so of your base to be able to play every week and at least make a living.
Also, see if your city has a true alternative station that's not already owned by Clear Channel (oh wait, if Clear Channel owned it then it wouldn't be an alternative station would it). You may be able to get your CD played ther. Also look for local public radio stations and college stations. If there's a "local talent" talk show on any of those radio stations then you should bust your butt to get on it and promote your CD and your gigs.
But don't expect anyone in the record industry to suddenly get a clue. Unless of course you're 5 guys with headphone mics dancing on stage. OR you're the next Britney, Christina, Whoever clone in low rise pants and a wonder bra. (Hmmm, notice how nothing in that last sentence had anything to do with the MUSIC. When creativity is lacking sexuality is substituted.)
Good luck. I hope you can at least make a living while having fun playing your music.
Folks, nothing in the article actually says what part of the DMCA Adobe is alledged to have violated. It only says that ITC and Agfa have accused them of such.
Without actual data as to what part of the DMCA Adobe has alledgedly violated all these "Karma is coming back to bite you bastards" post are a bit premature.
Look at their resume and see what they "say" they've worked on (example, Java Server Pages). Then start asking them questions about that technology. For example:
What version of JSP?
What changes occured between the version you worked on and the version previous to it?
In a JSP how would I pass a vector of objects from a servlet to the JSP and then display an HTML table with the number of rows equal to the number of objects in my Vector?
It's pretty easy to find out if they've actually done work with that technology or if they're just filling their resume with buzzwords.
I also like to hear the applicant extend his answers. For example:
Me: Have you ever used a Model-View-Controller pattern?
applicant : "Yes"
That was the wrong answer. I want him to say "Yes, when I was building such and such a project we created Java beans to hold the data, Java servlets to be the controller, and Java server pages to control the viewing of the data." That shows me that he's A: not lieing to me, and B: that he really has used it or at least understands the technology.
Riddles, trick questions, it's all crap. You can't determine if applicant A is better than applicant B based on whether or not he knows why manhole covers are round.
One guy here likes to ask the applicant "I want you to build me a calculator program. How would you go about it?" Think about all the logic behind a simple calculator program. It has parsers, language definitions, a GUI and so on. Does the applicant say anything about searching for existing applications and reusing code? Or does he want to figure out a recursive decent parser on his own? Does he even recognize what the task entails? If he's being interviewed for a C++ position does he recognize that in Bjarne Stroustrup's book "The C++ Programming Language" he uses a calculator program as an example of the C++ language. The applicant should have at least read the book enough to know that an example of how to do that program already exist.
Always ask if the applicant has any questions for you. If he doesn't then that's a sign that he's either in "deer in the headlights" mode, or he just doesn't understand you just talked about.
But these are just a few exmples. If you're already doing 2 technical interviews and an HR interview and you're still getting duds then you need to look at the guys in your company who are doing the technical interviews. The problem may be with your interviewers, not the applicants.
I worked for a couple of companies last year who used Tomcat in production. They're both out of business (or struggling just to stay alive). However, the use of Tomcat is not what killed them. Using a free servlet/jsp engine is probably one of the few good decisions they made.
I would suggest you remember that Tomcat is only a servlet and JSP app server. If you want an EJB container or automatic database pooling or other additional features you may want to go with a full blown app server product.
I've used WebSphere quite a bit and it works well. Web Logic is also a good choice. However, both of those products are pretty pricey.
You may want to look into the Orion app server. They have a good product with much more reasonable prices (free to developers, reasonble prices for production and test servers). We're using both Orion and WebSphere in production and they both seem to handle the load easily (I work at a large California bank with hundreds of thousands of online banking users).
>I think it's time the tech community started >asking a different question. What can the tech >community do to damage the RIAA or render them >irrelevant?
As I've said here before. I really think that this is the time for somebody with more money than me to start a new record company based on the ethics of "Don't screw the artist. Don't screw the customer".
It's absolutly time for a new set of record companies to start forming outside the realm of the RIAA and outside of the ClearChannel global domination network. If a record company paid the artist just $1.50 per CD and didn't do any of the "Screw the artist" scams that we've read about in Janis Ian's article or in Courtney Love's article then major artist would flock to that label.
Sure, the artist would have to get out of their current slavery/contract. But over time as these artist complete their contracts and as new artist come on board the RIAA based companies would be less and less profitable.
Of course, we also have the total monopoly of radio and record store bin space to deal with. Record store bin space can be dealt with by selling entirely via a web site. But the issue of getting radio air play without having to pay the (should be ) illegal payola fees is quite a problem.
Still, the more the RIAA pulls this crap the more the idea of a new record industry economy seems to be needed. It just feels like there would be TONS of money to be made. The customers want a new economy, the artist want a new economy, only the RIAA and ClearChannel want the status quo.
Way back in June I pointed out that if the Replay TV lawsuit won then allowing web browser users to view content without viewing the ads would be considered "stealing".
We all thought it was a joke back then. But HEY! Here we are being told that once again we the users are pirates. We're roaming the once free now pay-to-play internet stealing content by simply viewing a publicly available page.
What's next? Disabling the "mute" button on my remote control during commercial breaks? After all, if I watch the show but turn down the sound during commercials I must be "stealing content".
Then why shouldn't I be able to write a Matrix class that has addition, multiplication, and equals overloaded to be matrix addition and matrix multiplication? Which of these two examples looks like clearer code to you?
// assume a and b are already defined matrices Matrix x = new Matrix(a.matrixMultiply(b));
or
Matrix x = a * b;
But let's not let this turn into a Java bashing forum. Even with it's limitations and frustrations I still love the fact that my favorite programming editor (Jext, written in Java) works exactly the same in Windows 2000 as it does on Linux. I love the fact that I can work on servlet and JSP ideas at home on Linux using Apache and Tomcat and then go to work and flesh out those ideas on Windows 2000 with WebSphere. Then, when we move that program to production it runs on an IBM mainframe running AIX. All without requiring a recompile.
No language is perfect. Any language can be improved. The 10 points in this article would make Java an even better language than it is now.
>For better service, in the real world, you do have to pay more. To me, this sounds like a good deal.
Except they're not giving you better service. They're charging you more for the same service you use to get. Your normal price now buys you a slower connection.
And let's face it. $40/month for broadband is outrageous anyway. I'm sure that here in San Diego there are at least a hundred thousand customers using Cox Cable as their cable modem system (probably closer to 500,000). That's $4 million of revenue every month to run an ISP. You can't tell me that it isn't a money factory. That's $48 million per year just to route network traffic of 100,000 users who are usually only online for a couple hours a day.
And what if my 100,000 user estimate is low? What if the number is closer to 500,000? Well that just means that we (the customers) are producing $20 million of revenue every month. I can't believe that this is anything more than a way to increase profits.
Perhaps we can all benefit from this piece of advice from the book "Free Agent Nation":
"Whenever I start to think that a company has my best interest at heart I find if useful to repeat this simple mantra: 'Bullshit! Bullshit! Bullshit!' "
Slashdot Mirror
One word: Uplink
If Chris at Introversion can write a cool game like Uplink in his apartment after working a full time job then there is still hope. The difference is that Introversion saw that while the graphics in games have become more and more impressive the actual gameplay has suffered.
I saw the same thing when I worked at Software Sorcery (producers of Sea Rogue, Jutland, Aegis, Guardian of the fleet, Conqueror 1086). As the graphics got better the games were less and less fun (i.e. boring) Do we really need another MMP 1st person shooter? Or another MMP strategy game?
Disclaimer: I'm one of those freaks who, when given the choice of playing computer games or going outside for a hike, usually chooses to go outside. YMMV.
The article that was banned from "Extremem Rocketry" magazine was not about cardboard tube rockets. Extreme rocketry is about metal rockets with very powerful solid fuel engines (or sometimes hydrogen peroxide based chemical engines). They go so high as to make an Estes rocket look like a paper airplane.
This is not to say that it still isn't a stupid, paranoid thing to try to block an article from being published. But the original Slashdot article and the resulting comments should at least comment on what is actually happening.
Base your comments on what the article actually says, not what slashdot told you it said.
I think it makes lots of sense to do it that way. Although I can see a lot of companies suddenly moving to New Hampshire (no sales tax).
Boot Disk?
No No No! You young people have no appriciation of the proper use of tools.
Screwdrivers are used to chop a mortise for a door hinge.
A chisel is for opening paint cans.
A hammer is for driving screws IN.
Pliers are for taking screws OUT.
In Kasparov's match against Deep Blue Garry thought that there was human intervention on 2 moves because the computer ignored a tactical advantage, which would have lead to a draw, for a positional advantage which lead to a win. The modern programs would be more likely to see that kind of move.
This is typical Microsoft FUD. It completly ignores the fact that by licensing the right to build a JVM Microsoft had agreed to essentially 2 things: "Implement all of the JVM spec", and "Don't implement anything more than the spec". The first rule insures that Java apps written on other OSs will run on Windows. The 2nd rule insures that Java apps written on Windows will run on other OSs.
But many say that just because Java did fall flat on its face, and just because Microsoft pushed it a little here and there, one can't conclude that Microsoft deserves all the blame. Java, people point out, had a slow graphical interface and generally poor performance
This has more to do with perpetuating an impression that was correct 4 years ago than actual truth today. Take, for example, the programming editor Jext. I use it every day. It's fast, it works great, and it looks and feels exactly the same on Windows as it does in Linux.
On a recent programming challenge on coderforums.net a java program that randomized one million numbers and then sorted them ran faster than the same implementation in C.
"There's a lot of people who say that Microsoft wanted to kill Java" because it was "write-once, run-anywhere," he says. "But really, people at Microsoft just thought that was a ridiculous notion, and they didn't pay any attention to it. They said, 'For technological reasons, we don't think write-once will work."
More likely the truth is that "Write Once Run Anywhere" makes the operating system irrelevant. Imagine if people were able to buy a product with one CD that would run on Windows, Linux, Mac OS, IBM's AIX and Sun Solaris. People would be able to make a decision on what operating system to use based on the merits of the OS, not the availability of software.That is what scares the hell out of Microsoft.
Also, if you're interested in chess programs from a programmer point of view this link has quite a few links to various tutorials on chess playing algorithms as well as many different free Winboard engines.
I also was testing the meta moderate feature. When I clicked the "meta moderate" button I got a 404 error.
Now, I must say that I have several e-books on my Visor and that works out just great when I go to lunch and want to read something while I eat. But I certainly wouldn't want to try to relax in bed at night while trying to read that tiny print on a dark screen. So I think what we have here is the idea of a new technology which is still valid, but the implementation of that technology hasn't caught up with the idea. Give me a cheap e-book reader the size and weight of a paperback book with high quality fonts on a readable background with enough memory to hold a couple dozen books and e-books would be seriously take off!
The article was on the chessbase site. www.chessbase.com
The current (i.e. "Reigning") world chess champion is in fact Ruslan Ponomariov, not Kramnik.
Only Much Much cheaper.
So if I rip a CD I'm lumped into the same catagory as those who download copywrited music? Every time I buy a CD the first thing I do is to rip it so I can listen to it on my computer while my CDRom is being used as a CDRom, not a CD Player. Nothing about ripping music I already paid for is against the law.
"If just half of the blank discs sold in 2001 were used to copy music, that would mean that the number of burned music CDs worldwide is about the same as the number of CDs sold at retail."
That is a statement with absolutly no statistical backbone. I just said that I rip every CD I buy. I then make my own CD's with my own mix of music. Once again, nothing illegal. And yet the RIAA wants to use that statistic to show that I'm a "pirate".
"...over 50 percent of those music fans that have downloaded music for free have made copies of it.
Yep, and I'm part of that 50%. But I still didn't break the law because I downloaded the songs legaly from Amazon.com or epitonic .com or any number of artist websites that give away free music. Once again the RIAA lumps legal behavior in with illegal behavior in an attempt to boost their statistics. I don't have a single illegal mp3 on my computer, but once again, I'm lumped in with the "pirates".
While Bricklin missed pointing out these statistical errors at least he did point out some other significant points:
- CD prices have gone up significantly.
- Radio and MTV are presenting a narrower selection of music.
The obvious answer there is to support college radio and internet radio. Present more choices to the customer and they'll buy more. And yet the RIAA is killing both!Unfortunatly, in this country rather than letting an absolete industry die a well deserved death we'll probably prop it up with more unconstitutional laws and continue to prosecute the industry's most faithful consumers as prirates. The record industry keeps shooting itself in the foot and then blames it's customers for making it pull the trigger. It's pathetic.
Are you trying to make a living playing music or are do you want to be the next Bon Jovi? They're very different goals and unfortunatly the record industry won't let you be like Bon Jovi (or any other multi-million selling band) unless you sound like something they already know they can sell. Yes, they're idiots and they couldn't recognize good music if it punched them in the face, but that's the reality.
Now, if you want to make a living playing music then you're well on your way. It sounds like you have enough local support that you can start expanding your geographic sphere of influence. If you're music is popular and you're getting good crowd reactions then you can certainly build up enough gigs within a 100 miles or so of your base to be able to play every week and at least make a living.
Also, see if your city has a true alternative station that's not already owned by Clear Channel (oh wait, if Clear Channel owned it then it wouldn't be an alternative station would it). You may be able to get your CD played ther. Also look for local public radio stations and college stations. If there's a "local talent" talk show on any of those radio stations then you should bust your butt to get on it and promote your CD and your gigs.
But don't expect anyone in the record industry to suddenly get a clue. Unless of course you're 5 guys with headphone mics dancing on stage. OR you're the next Britney, Christina, Whoever clone in low rise pants and a wonder bra. (Hmmm, notice how nothing in that last sentence had anything to do with the MUSIC. When creativity is lacking sexuality is substituted.)
Good luck. I hope you can at least make a living while having fun playing your music.
Without actual data as to what part of the DMCA Adobe has alledgedly violated all these "Karma is coming back to bite you bastards" post are a bit premature.
It's pretty easy to find out if they've actually done work with that technology or if they're just filling their resume with buzzwords.
I also like to hear the applicant extend his answers. For example :
Me: Have you ever used a Model-View-Controller pattern?
applicant : "Yes"
That was the wrong answer. I want him to say "Yes, when I was building such and such a project we created Java beans to hold the data, Java servlets to be the controller, and Java server pages to control the viewing of the data." That shows me that he's A: not lieing to me, and B: that he really has used it or at least understands the technology.
Riddles, trick questions, it's all crap. You can't determine if applicant A is better than applicant B based on whether or not he knows why manhole covers are round.
One guy here likes to ask the applicant "I want you to build me a calculator program. How would you go about it?" Think about all the logic behind a simple calculator program. It has parsers, language definitions, a GUI and so on. Does the applicant say anything about searching for existing applications and reusing code? Or does he want to figure out a recursive decent parser on his own? Does he even recognize what the task entails? If he's being interviewed for a C++ position does he recognize that in Bjarne Stroustrup's book "The C++ Programming Language" he uses a calculator program as an example of the C++ language. The applicant should have at least read the book enough to know that an example of how to do that program already exist.
Always ask if the applicant has any questions for you. If he doesn't then that's a sign that he's either in "deer in the headlights" mode, or he just doesn't understand you just talked about.
But these are just a few exmples. If you're already doing 2 technical interviews and an HR interview and you're still getting duds then you need to look at the guys in your company who are doing the technical interviews. The problem may be with your interviewers, not the applicants.
I would suggest you remember that Tomcat is only a servlet and JSP app server. If you want an EJB container or automatic database pooling or other additional features you may want to go with a full blown app server product. I've used WebSphere quite a bit and it works well. Web Logic is also a good choice. However, both of those products are pretty pricey.
You may want to look into the Orion app server. They have a good product with much more reasonable prices (free to developers, reasonble prices for production and test servers). We're using both Orion and WebSphere in production and they both seem to handle the load easily (I work at a large California bank with hundreds of thousands of online banking users).
Hope it helps.
>I think it's time the tech community started
>asking a different question. What can the tech
>community do to damage the RIAA or render them
>irrelevant?
As I've said here before. I really think that this is the time for somebody with more money than me to start a new record company based on the ethics of "Don't screw the artist. Don't screw the customer".
It's absolutly time for a new set of record companies to start forming outside the realm of the RIAA and outside of the ClearChannel global domination network. If a record company paid the artist just $1.50 per CD and didn't do any of the "Screw the artist" scams that we've read about in Janis Ian's article or in Courtney Love's article then major artist would flock to that label.
Sure, the artist would have to get out of their current slavery/contract. But over time as these artist complete their contracts and as new artist come on board the RIAA based companies would be less and less profitable.
Of course, we also have the total monopoly of radio and record store bin space to deal with. Record store bin space can be dealt with by selling entirely via a web site. But the issue of getting radio air play without having to pay the (should be ) illegal payola fees is quite a problem.
Still, the more the RIAA pulls this crap the more the idea of a new record industry economy seems to be needed. It just feels like there would be TONS of money to be made. The customers want a new economy, the artist want a new economy, only the RIAA and ClearChannel want the status quo.
>4) Absorbs excess light to help maintain that lovely shade of "pasty white" you've worked so hard to obtain
"pasty white" ? I've always thought of my programmer's tan as more of a "minty green".
We all thought it was a joke back then. But HEY! Here we are being told that once again we the users are pirates. We're roaming the once free now pay-to-play internet stealing content by simply viewing a publicly available page.
What's next? Disabling the "mute" button on my remote control during commercial breaks? After all, if I watch the show but turn down the sound during commercials I must be "stealing content".
What a load of crap!
Wouldn't it be even cooler if he built the entire thing inside a Teddy Bear?
String foo = "Hello ";
// fobar now equals "Hello World"
String bar = "World.";
String foobar = foo + bar;
Then why shouldn't I be able to write a Matrix class that has addition, multiplication, and equals overloaded to be matrix addition and matrix multiplication? Which of these two examples looks like clearer code to you?
Matrix x = new Matrix(a.matrixMultiply(b));
or
Matrix x = a * b;
But let's not let this turn into a Java bashing forum. Even with it's limitations and frustrations I still love the fact that my favorite programming editor (Jext, written in Java) works exactly the same in Windows 2000 as it does on Linux. I love the fact that I can work on servlet and JSP ideas at home on Linux using Apache and Tomcat and then go to work and flesh out those ideas on Windows 2000 with WebSphere. Then, when we move that program to production it runs on an IBM mainframe running AIX. All without requiring a recompile.
No language is perfect. Any language can be improved. The 10 points in this article would make Java an even better language than it is now.
I never said it cost nothing to run a network. What I said was that it doesn't cost $4 million per month to run a network for 100,000 users.
Except they're not giving you better service. They're charging you more for the same service you use to get. Your normal price now buys you a slower connection.
And let's face it. $40/month for broadband is outrageous anyway. I'm sure that here in San Diego there are at least a hundred thousand customers using Cox Cable as their cable modem system (probably closer to 500,000). That's $4 million of revenue every month to run an ISP. You can't tell me that it isn't a money factory. That's $48 million per year just to route network traffic of 100,000 users who are usually only online for a couple hours a day.
And what if my 100,000 user estimate is low? What if the number is closer to 500,000? Well that just means that we (the customers) are producing $20 million of revenue every month. I can't believe that this is anything more than a way to increase profits.
Perhaps we can all benefit from this piece of advice from the book "Free Agent Nation":
"Whenever I start to think that a company has my best interest at heart I find if useful to repeat this simple mantra: 'Bullshit! Bullshit! Bullshit!' "