It's not just a "manager" attitude, it's the attitude of pretty much all of western society. Would it help if I replaced the word "training" with "education"? Most people believe that you can learn a skill if you work at it hard enough. Of course innate talent has an effect, and everyone is probably limited by what heights they can achieve by their physical limitations, but how many times have we heard of people overcoming their own limits to do something they really wanted to? Saying you can only do something if you have pre-existing talent for it is basically claiming that we are slaves to our genetics and there's no changing that.
Programming is like anything else, you want to do it and are willing to put the effort in, you can learn the skill.
I'd agree, for that price it's not much use to me just on the phone screen apart from convenience... except, tablets have perfectly well-specced screens for film viewing, and most phones and tablets now come with HDMI-out. I could easily see myself buying a video on my phone and then plugging it into my tv to watch.
You can train nearly everything, but training does not make you good.
Errr... yes it does. Or were you always a good driver / writer / programmer? Training is exactly the process of making someone good at something!
All the training will not help if basic ability is lacking. If you can't sing a bit, it's very unlikely you will get good even if you practice all your life.
And if you lack ability in analyzing, you will have a hard time in CS or IT. Some people just don't get it, that is simply a fact.
Balls. All those skills are taught.
I'll agree that you may not become a star singer without natural talent, but you can be taught to sing, and you can be taught to program. Not everybody will become (or needs to become!) the ace-number-one software developer. Programming and programmers are not special. Like engineering, like social professions, like anything, the skills can be learned. There are very few professions that we claim are completely out of possibility for some people to learn (brain surgery / rocket science-type things) and frankly, programming is just not that hard.
If you didnt already begin in a high school class, or at the very least on hobby projects?
Because we don't expect that of any other subject? You don't ask someone on a maths / physics / chemistry / psychology to have done it at home outside of a formal education system? And it's very easy to not have the chance to do it in school, I know that I didn't.
Also, how many times do we hear professors claiming that they prefer their students not to know any programming so they haven't picked up any bad habits? Can't have it both ways...
Well said... wish I had mod points. There an unpleasant sense of entitlement from people who complain about the GPL restricting their freedoms... if you're going to use my code then you're going to abide by the licence that I choose, or find someone else's.
My bet is the one with the most manufacturers behind it winning. I don't think there's an argument to claim that Android phones don't *just work* (although you might be able to say they're not as consistent as iOS, but I think the gap is pretty small), and the combined marketing and development power of Sony, HTC, Samsung, Motorola are overpowering Apple's 'cool'.
Android is in the lead now, but I'm not sure how much of that comes from people avoiding the iPhone to avoid AT&T.
Well, I don't know if there's alot of iPhone "avoiding" going on but if you look at the market in the UK where there is a choice there can be little argument about Android being chosen over iPhone (iPhone is available on all the major providers). Of course, with Android there is vastly more choice in terms of form factor & manufacturer, so it's not surprising. Even equivalent-spec Android devices have always been significantly cheaper than iPhone and there's only so much of that cost you can hide in the contract.
Apple never particularly seem to want to compete on numbers, they have a solid profit margin on each device to make up for that.
The issue is not the freedom of not the first person to use the code, but all the following ones down the chain. The GPL protects everyone by requiring release of source for changes, BSD doesn't protect anyone since the first person to derive the code can then keep their changes secret. So BSD is more "free" in that the first person gets the chance to do anything they want, but that person can then screw over anyone else, while simultaneously building on the generosity of the original author.
So you makes your choice, but don't whine about it, you're getting something for free either way, and the author is well justified to stop BSD-style closing of source.
Hint: The reason why tablets are popular is not because of their features. It's because you can carry the damn things around with you without your arm falling off. Slapping a tablet screen on a notebook does not fix this problem.
Though it does depend on whether the problem with them is the weight (not an issue with that device) or the lack of full-functionality (still an issue with that device)...
I'm not entirely sure because I've not seen the need to use it personally yet, but wouldn't the Android Market Licensing service stop this? Been around for a while this API...
Apple are quite happy to ignore standards when it suits them (audio formats, power/USB connectors...). Let's not pretend that Apple are the bastion of device interoperability...
There's also nothing wrong with proprietary executables, expect maybe for OSS geeks. We can have them both. Instead of attacking proprietary software and companies like Microsoft by saying they're the root of evil, MAKE BETTER SOFTWARE. Let the quality show how good choice OSS is.
To just flat-out say "there's nothing wrong with proprietary executables" is ignoring his main point, and doing nothing to counter it. It's not that OSS is *necessarily* a better way of working, it's that closed-source software *takes away your freedom to use the software*. Proprietary software leaves you at the mercy of the existence and will of the manufacturer to continue to support it, and not do anything evil to you.
What's your point? Isn't that the reason you might want to have someone thinking about this sort of stuff and perhaps persuading those people that might care? Or are you claiming that because the majority of people don't care, then any minority's efforts are irrelevant? Because of RMS we have the free software movement. Just because he cares much more than I do, doesn't mean I can't recognise that the wealth of open source code available (created by people that *do* care) isn't a great thing.
Nah, the comma has a use for breaking up sentences into parsable chunks. There are very *very* few occasions where a misplaced apostrophe genuinely causes confusion (ie, not people who are deliberately flexing their smug-muscles).
and that you give a damn about clear thinking and clear communication.
However, the very fact that he could see so quickly that there was an error and deduce what it should say does tend to indicate that the apostrophe has very little value. There are things that affect communication clarity far more than apostrophe use (like good sentence construction) which I wish people would focus on instead. The apostrophe will be gone in 50 years.
Re:Voice recognition has been around since years!
on
Talking To Computers?
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· Score: 1
I'm looking forward to thought-recognition software.
I'm really not... some of my thoughts *really* don't want displaying on-screen for all to see...
I lived for two weeks in the buffalo winter without heat when i first moved in. With some blankets and a sleeping bag you can do fine.
*You* are not *other people*, who are old, or have medical conditions, or perhaps are just different to you. Try to use your tiny imagination just a little before making overarching judgemental generalisations.
This is what I predicted 18 months ago when it was on one crappy phone and I left my job to learn Android. People thought I was stupid to pick Android over iOS... but you can't argue with several major phone manufacturers getting behind a platform. They are too big, they will *make* it do well.
Every Slashdot story has a bunch of people saying that "Facebook is useless" and lacking any sort of ability to imagine *why* normal intelligent people like using it. Seems to be one of the current Slashdot methods of showing 'superiority'.
Slashdot Mirror
It's not just a "manager" attitude, it's the attitude of pretty much all of western society. Would it help if I replaced the word "training" with "education"? Most people believe that you can learn a skill if you work at it hard enough. Of course innate talent has an effect, and everyone is probably limited by what heights they can achieve by their physical limitations, but how many times have we heard of people overcoming their own limits to do something they really wanted to? Saying you can only do something if you have pre-existing talent for it is basically claiming that we are slaves to our genetics and there's no changing that.
Programming is like anything else, you want to do it and are willing to put the effort in, you can learn the skill.
I'd agree, for that price it's not much use to me just on the phone screen apart from convenience... except, tablets have perfectly well-specced screens for film viewing, and most phones and tablets now come with HDMI-out. I could easily see myself buying a video on my phone and then plugging it into my tv to watch.
Presumably this would be an ideal use for that HDMI-out that's on most high-end phones these days...
For $3.99, it had better run on my 50" 1080p plasma TV.
Well, given quite a lot of the higher end phones come with HDMI now, there's a pretty good chance.
All the training will not help if basic ability is lacking. If you can't sing a bit, it's very unlikely you will get good even if you practice all your life.
And if you lack ability in analyzing, you will have a hard time in CS or IT. Some people just don't get it, that is simply a fact.
Balls. All those skills are taught.
I'll agree that you may not become a star singer without natural talent, but you can be taught to sing, and you can be taught to program. Not everybody will become (or needs to become!) the ace-number-one software developer. Programming and programmers are not special. Like engineering, like social professions, like anything, the skills can be learned. There are very few professions that we claim are completely out of possibility for some people to learn (brain surgery / rocket science-type things) and frankly, programming is just not that hard.
You can train nearly everything, but training does not make you good.
Errr... yes it does. Or were you always a good driver / writer / programmer? Training is exactly the process of making someone good at something!
Don't make IT/CS easier. Make it harder, please.
Ah, the predictable "pull the ladder up after you've climbed".
If you didnt already begin in a high school class, or at the very least on hobby projects?
Because we don't expect that of any other subject? You don't ask someone on a maths / physics / chemistry / psychology to have done it at home outside of a formal education system? And it's very easy to not have the chance to do it in school, I know that I didn't.
Also, how many times do we hear professors claiming that they prefer their students not to know any programming so they haven't picked up any bad habits? Can't have it both ways...
Well said... wish I had mod points.
There an unpleasant sense of entitlement from people who complain about the GPL restricting their freedoms... if you're going to use my code then you're going to abide by the licence that I choose, or find someone else's.
My bet is the one with the most manufacturers behind it winning. I don't think there's an argument to claim that Android phones don't *just work* (although you might be able to say they're not as consistent as iOS, but I think the gap is pretty small), and the combined marketing and development power of Sony, HTC, Samsung, Motorola are overpowering Apple's 'cool'.
Android is in the lead now, but I'm not sure how much of that comes from people avoiding the iPhone to avoid AT&T.
Well, I don't know if there's alot of iPhone "avoiding" going on but if you look at the market in the UK where there is a choice there can be little argument about Android being chosen over iPhone (iPhone is available on all the major providers). Of course, with Android there is vastly more choice in terms of form factor & manufacturer, so it's not surprising. Even equivalent-spec Android devices have always been significantly cheaper than iPhone and there's only so much of that cost you can hide in the contract.
Apple never particularly seem to want to compete on numbers, they have a solid profit margin on each device to make up for that.
The issue is not the freedom of not the first person to use the code, but all the following ones down the chain. The GPL protects everyone by requiring release of source for changes, BSD doesn't protect anyone since the first person to derive the code can then keep their changes secret. So BSD is more "free" in that the first person gets the chance to do anything they want, but that person can then screw over anyone else, while simultaneously building on the generosity of the original author.
So you makes your choice, but don't whine about it, you're getting something for free either way, and the author is well justified to stop BSD-style closing of source.
Hint: The reason why tablets are popular is not because of their features. It's because you can carry the damn things around with you without your arm falling off. Slapping a tablet screen on a notebook does not fix this problem.
Not necessarily...
http://www.knowyourmobile.com/smartphones/asus/eeepadtransformer/eeepadtransformerreviews/726684/asus_eee_pad_transformer_review_first_look.html
Though it does depend on whether the problem with them is the weight (not an issue with that device) or the lack of full-functionality (still an issue with that device)...
http://developer.android.com/guide/publishing/licensing.html
I'm not entirely sure because I've not seen the need to use it personally yet, but wouldn't the Android Market Licensing service stop this? Been around for a while this API...
Just before *you personally* cannot provide any additional contribution to a project doesn't mean that you can't benefit from that 0.00001% who *can*.
Apple are quite happy to ignore standards when it suits them (audio formats, power/USB connectors...). Let's not pretend that Apple are the bastion of device interoperability...
There's also nothing wrong with proprietary executables, expect maybe for OSS geeks. We can have them both. Instead of attacking proprietary software and companies like Microsoft by saying they're the root of evil, MAKE BETTER SOFTWARE. Let the quality show how good choice OSS is.
To just flat-out say "there's nothing wrong with proprietary executables" is ignoring his main point, and doing nothing to counter it. It's not that OSS is *necessarily* a better way of working, it's that closed-source software *takes away your freedom to use the software*. Proprietary software leaves you at the mercy of the existence and will of the manufacturer to continue to support it, and not do anything evil to you.
"People do not care"?
What's your point? Isn't that the reason you might want to have someone thinking about this sort of stuff and perhaps persuading those people that might care? Or are you claiming that because the majority of people don't care, then any minority's efforts are irrelevant? Because of RMS we have the free software movement. Just because he cares much more than I do, doesn't mean I can't recognise that the wealth of open source code available (created by people that *do* care) isn't a great thing.
The PC-Gaming business is a lost cause anyway. If Microsoft doesn't steal customers away from it themselves, someone else will.
When have I heard that before... oh yes, every year for the last decade...
Nah, the comma has a use for breaking up sentences into parsable chunks. There are very *very* few occasions where a misplaced apostrophe genuinely causes confusion (ie, not people who are deliberately flexing their smug-muscles).
and that you give a damn about clear thinking and clear communication.
However, the very fact that he could see so quickly that there was an error and deduce what it should say does tend to indicate that the apostrophe has very little value. There are things that affect communication clarity far more than apostrophe use (like good sentence construction) which I wish people would focus on instead. The apostrophe will be gone in 50 years.
I'm looking forward to thought-recognition software.
I'm really not... some of my thoughts *really* don't want displaying on-screen for all to see...
I lived for two weeks in the buffalo winter without heat when i first moved in. With some blankets and a sleeping bag you can do fine.
*You* are not *other people*, who are old, or have medical conditions, or perhaps are just different to you. Try to use your tiny imagination just a little before making overarching judgemental generalisations.
This is what I predicted 18 months ago when it was on one crappy phone and I left my job to learn Android. People thought I was stupid to pick Android over iOS... but you can't argue with several major phone manufacturers getting behind a platform. They are too big, they will *make* it do well.
Well said.
Every Slashdot story has a bunch of people saying that "Facebook is useless" and lacking any sort of ability to imagine *why* normal intelligent people like using it. Seems to be one of the current Slashdot methods of showing 'superiority'.
I don't necessarily believe everything I read in a summary...