I'm 47 and getting older. The networks' (and advertisers') interest in my eyeballs watching their stuff is fading. Soon I'll be part of the proof that a programming president should be fired, as a network's demographics are skewed too old.
And you know what? Armed with a remote and the ability to leave the couch, I skip over a good portion of their commercials any way. As befits my age, I guess I "steal" broadcast programming old school.
It is an analysis. So then the following questions apply:
Are sources cited?
Are sources credible?
Did you check the sources and find the citation was accurate and not out of context or abridged to remove inconvenient parts?
Was the analysis presented in such a way that alternative interpretations of the facts were noted and discussed fairly?
Can you follow the logic or do you find there are assumed facts not in evidence?
Is the author's past history of any advocacy well-disclosed so the reader can be forewarned as to any potential bias?
Were the experiments/benchmarks single-blind or double-blind or no-blind?
Is the experiment/benchmark methodology well-explained and the results reproducible?
Where people were surveyed, were the subjects selected randomly (and is the selection method disclosed)?
I haven't looked closely so I will not answer the question about reverse FUD. In any case, I have, at best, a mild interest in Windows TCO or Linux Security studies. I am not a PHB and I do not serve under one, so when I check slashdot comments about these studies, it's to see if someone criticizes the study in terms of the bases I set forth above. Because if a study is dubious, no matter what it advocates, a commenter will point flaws out in a specific manner. I believe there's some signal amidst the noise -- I must be an optimist.
The established base, like any other body at rest, needs a motive force to get into motion. OOo being, in some ways, ISO compliant is some force, but, IMHO, not enough force.
But let's think about the future when the market expands and people acquire more machines and/or licenses. Plus, there will be another version of Office, at least, released between now and Longhorn deployment. What features will it add and what licensing model will Microsoft try to push - subscribed web application? So at that point companies will be looking at costs and benefits and that's where it gets interesting. In order to compete in the future, Microsoft may have to include a filter which transforms the ISO standard or Microsoft may have to offer its document format as an alternative ISO format, or Microsoft takes their chances and ignores an international standard. The first two possibilities are good for us consumers, whether we go with Office or OOo.
After months (or is that years) of denial. I finally went and had my post-middle-aged eyesight corrected and I opted for "transitional lenses." Transitional lenses suck, because the sweet spot for reading or doing close up work is in the lower eighth of the spectacles.
Using a Luxo Jr iMac at work has made these new glasses a less-than-complete disaster because I do lower the screen and angle it so that it is entirely lower than my chin and this makes it easier to work.
Love the look of the new iMacs. I want one, but I will miss that the new ones can only be tilted and not raised or lowered.
Oh. Did I mention transitional lenses suck? Get a reading set if you work a lot with a computer monitor.
Other folks have responded. I'll just point out that the mascot is not Satan. Just as the mascot for the Duke Blue Devils and the icon on Underwood Devilled Ham are not Satan either. There isn't any thing holier about commercial products that have angels as their icon and the Anaheim Angels are not automatically the more righteous baseball team. (Back in the 80s there were baseball players with the name Teufel and Gott. It was not the apocalypse when they faced off.)
You have your faith and its symbols, ethics, and morals. It is a serious question as to how you integrate this into what some may call your secular existence. If you honestly believe that either God, Beelzebub or you will be confused as to your allegiances and as to what your mortal life means, then, you're right, stay away from FreeBSD.
Now, unlike the duality of heaven and hell, there are more than two points on the operating system spectrum. Other unix-like operating systems which do not use a devil mascot are NetBSD, OpenBSD, Linux (many distros), and Solaris x86. The latter is a Unix operating system. Seek and you shall find.
I was waiting for this, where someone's alleged copyright is brought to bear on political speech. Satire or not, talking about them poly-tishuns in DC seems pretty First Amendment protected to me, but I ain't one a them lawyerin types.
Washington Mutual did not develop this in order to sell it to others, like an invented consumer device, or a manufacturing plan or process, but to differentiate themselves from other banks. The patent will be used against any other bank (and who know what else) that comes up with a more family friendly / self-serve design, either to get windfall funds or to shut down the competition.
The whole point of rethinking the ambiance surrounding the selling of hamburgers and fries, deposits and withdrawals, sneakers and athletic wear, car washes, or the environment of any interior where someone goes to purchase services or goods, is that the return on investment is an increase in traffic, customers and sales.
On the selfish -- how dare I not get on board the whole government-abetted maximal economic exploitation for every idea juggernaut -- side, I work for interior designers. God help the industry if furniture manufacturers patent some conceputalizaton of the hospital waiting area (so only one person can sell a certain arrangement of ganged chairs and side tables.) In any regards I do not relish that we may need patent attorneys to sign off on our drawings.
On Monday I guess I need to memo my co-workers and urge them to welcome our new patent-wielding interiors overlords.
I use java, but I think that java was designed to outlast Sun. I have at most a mild academic interest in what it would mean to me (or the world) should Sun open Solaris.
Sun did give SCO some money last year and that money enabled SCO to show a profit. What Sun got for the money, exactly, was not clear. That Sun paid the money to capitalize a SCO-built Linux speed-bump seems entirely consistent with what Sun was saying in Spring '03. Okay, it's a year later. SCO is entwined in five law-suits. If they get their way, it will be six law suits (should the IBM patent counter-claims be split off from the main event). That's the smell of money burning. And on the income side? Their Unix operating system products are losing market share, customers are leaving, and it seems that virtually nobody is buying SCO Ip licenses, despite all the shock and awe of SCO suing AutoZone and Daimler-Chrysler. And look at the strategy that SCO has been employing for the last few months -- ask for a delay in a case while pointing to another case as the one that should go first. IMHO, it's a case of delay the inevitable and hope that somebody buys them out or that maybe something survives to be shown to a jury who will root for the "underdog" and nullify contract and ip law, or, perhaps, rewrite copyright law via the courts and secure the right of monopoly in perpetuity for operating system algorithms and api's and then, watch that money roll in.
Does SCO look to you like a winning ticket? So maybe Sun is thinking about what are the good ideas today in order to survive. Well, kiss and make up with Microsoft. Put Linux in inexpensive computers and call it the Java Desktop.
But, regardless of how Sun runs its business, do we actually believe that for the first time in 20 months, SCO is honestly and precisely describing its rights vis a vis SysV code and how those purported rights affect Sun's use of Solaris?
I agree with sibiling posts about Linux keeping Unix alive and introducing it into consumer markets. I was introduced to Unix in 2000 and while we were using Solaris in the lab, it was loopback Mandrake on my machine at home. And I discovered that I prefer unix-like operating systems to Windows.
But let me add this point. Linux and GNU have created an ecosphere for developers who want to scratch itches. With Linux, there is a minimal barrier of entry, no one whines at you when you decide to move a piece of code (such as the os) to a different cpu, no one resists or makes your life difficult if you choose to stay with kernel 2.2.x, and, when combined with its adherence to the unix tradition of giving you the tools to solve your problems, it provides a place to go when its time for code as recreation (re-creation!).
Linux gave the GNU tools a huge boost and, in some sense, a more-or-less philosophically compatible home. And this in turn meant when Apple was ready to take NextStep prime time, as you note, darwin could include or add nfs, samba, xml-parsing, apache, X11, and so on. Linux also meant there would be consumers who would see that Apple's inclusion of open source and free software was totally cool.
I behaved in my teen years as you did. But during my junior year of high school there was some stupid-ass rule about limiting time in the Library to one period per student. The other advanced mathematics kids and I had to wait at least two periods on Tuesday and Thursday for a very late afternoon class, so we submitted false class schedules to the Librarian to acquire multiple phony Library ids and "permission" to read and study beyond our quota. It felt good to walk on that wild side!
Something's in the works. Baystar and SCO are not on the same page as far as how Baystar will receive its most value out of the situation. Baystar cannot be so foolish as to think that changing the CEO would make (a) the lawsuits resolve faster or (b) Linux users cough up $700 per "server" CPU and enter into a contract with SCO (thereby inviting SCO's nose into their business). As for a Microsoft (or any) buyout, it maybe gives Baystar a return on investment, but the new owners of SCO are still on the hook for Lanham Act claims by IBM and RedHat. They are still involved in a battle with Novell over, essentially, the right to even think about suing users and distributors of Linux, FreeBSD or other Unix operating systems. And the new owners, for their millions, will acquire the unmitigated joy of an IP battle with IBM.
Perhaps these Baystar pronouncements are understandable as a negotiation position for Canopy's consideration: our 20 mill now and we go away, otherwise, your execs are going down.
Back in the 70s and 80s when I was reading radio/tv trade publications, I recall a bit of contention between local independent television stations and the superstations on cable (like Ted Turner's WTBS). The complaint was that the amount of money the local stations paid to syndicate second-run tv shows (they were probably thinking about MASH in those days) implied that they should be given exclusivity in their markets (and the local cable operator would have to black out the syndicated program on WTBS). Fortunately, the regulatory agencies and courts didn't buy that one, and I'm sure the "issue" was adjusted over time by the market, i.e., licensing fees being reduced for locals and increased for national broadcasters. The world kept turning. (And the rich got richer.)
The NAB has many members who currently buy national programming with localized trimmings. Some member broadcasters may be about to start their third decade of doing this. Come to think of it, 21 years ago, I was working at a small-town all news station where the international/national news was the audio feed of the CNN Headline News channel (delivered via satellite) and we provided 8 minutes per half hour of local news/programming. If XM/Sirius start "localizing" their programs, then it's time for radio to innovate. After all, radio, you survived the displacement of phonograph records for live performances, how television killed your dramatic programs, how FM in car receivers wiped out AM powerhouses, how consultancy and ever-restricted play lists essentially eliminated the dj as cultural conduit, and how ownership rules have decimated the local family broadcaster. [You and the RIAA blocked internet broadcasters fairly well, but that's because you were going up against people without money.] Well, time for a new chapter; turn the page. Your MBA's may be thinking widgets, but this is radio - giving people something that's worth listening to - and don't count on government for saving your butts when somebody else with deep pockets comes strolling into town.
Wasn't stolen. This happens a lot. How many times have we seen a preview for an (allegedly) quirky comedy scored to the music of Get Shorty? Could be someone in marketing decided that using the Stargate theme will help make the sci-fi connection better than the existing score, or that there wasn't any choice as the film's score is incomplete or being rewritten, even at this late date.
I saw the preview before Spartan on Friday. The stylized production design looks good for a trailer. But 100 minutes of this? And saving the world from future beings in future technology with 1942 (US) fighter planes? Only today's earlier Lord of the Rings musical seems more dubious. But good luck to everyone.
Here's a wacky scenario, offered for amusement only. E-mail leaks (and is confirmed by SCO with a "but the sender was reminded later of the error of his ways") because the spigot had been shut off. And the timing: the day after two new law suits could not obscure the terrible financial results of the first quarter, resulting in a serious drop in stock value.
The program I spent some 3 years writing in Turbo Pascal from when I was 18 was for my father's business. Because the business he's in requires a lot of bureaucracy, he and my mother spent about 2-3 daily hours on average doing all of this stuff by hand. When I was done with my program and he started using it, that time went from 3 hours to about 15 minutes a day. That was software that absolutely improved the quality of life for the entire family! And his friends and colleagues loved it, too. I didn't sell many licenses at that time (I think I had 3 customers), but each one was worth 1500 German Marks and that was a huge heap of money for me
With all due respect, was the primary value: the increase in productivity provided to your family's enterprise, the money from the three licenses, or (the implied) lessons learned from managing your first project?
Every year computers get faster, and the elements of the application become blunter as they enlarge from bits and registers to objects and patterns. Every year thousands of people graduate with the skills that you applied back in 1990. Every year lots of people realize that that data structure that was used over there would work out well to solve this problem over here. In short, my casual advice, given as a member of the last slide-rule generation, would be to get over this idea that you can create an idea, put a wall around it, and charge admission. Some folks will, but they ultimately rely on being 800 lb. gorillas backed up with a 1000 lb. gorilla (the government) to protect it. This model is as doomed as alchemy was.
Re:It was never then, it is always now
on
How C# Was Made
·
· Score: 1
As we speak, somebody is explaining to him that.NET deployment involves a kind of dynamic linking that's a nice inprovement from the old way, and he'll think.NET is glorious again.
Fair enough. Though perhaps your heading should be "It will be then again." And I suppose the point with Mr. Spolsky is figuring out when it's an idiotic enthusiasm and when it's a brilliant insight, meaning, I guess one should exercise much care before citing him as an endorser or condemner of a platform.
Last month, Mr. Spolsky noted he had acquired a more nuanced point of view about when to develop in C#. Still, as your link notes, he thought it was the thing to do in April aught-two.
(13 Jan 2004) The sysutils/kdeadmin3 port/package has a bug in the KUser component that can cause deletion of the root user from the system password file. Users are strongly urged to upgrade to version 3.1.4_1 of this port/package.
This and other items may be found under "3 Open Issues."
Does the Microsoft.net EULA(s) still forbid publicizing benchmarks results? (Don't flame if this changed -- it's not my platform so I'm not paying close attention.)
If I understand it correctly, Wal-Mart's core competency is using its size to negotiate down the costs from distributors and producers. I suspect that if Wal-Mart is offering their music for less, they are paying less to the record companies. The nexus for the agreement may very well be the more restrictive nature of the consumer's use of the Wal-Mart music files. There may even be co-op money for Wal-Mart from Microsoft for promoting the WMA format.
As this is the entertainment business, I'll just point out that when HBO started to look like it could be a success, other companies started movie channels. And within a few years all the major film studios had exclusive deals with the channels for the right to be the first channel to show the studio's releases. Something similar happened when others saw MTV's success and they followed behind. Deals for 90 day (IIRC) exclusivity proliferated between the channels and the record companies. I wouldn't be surprised if exclusivity doesn't begin to appear this year, and not to Apple's advantage.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm 47 and getting older. The networks' (and advertisers') interest in my eyeballs watching their stuff is fading. Soon I'll be part of the proof that a programming president should be fired, as a network's demographics are skewed too old.
And you know what? Armed with a remote and the ability to leave the couch, I skip over a good portion of their commercials any way. As befits my age, I guess I "steal" broadcast programming old school.
- Are sources cited?
- Are sources credible?
- Did you check the sources and find the citation was accurate and not out of context or abridged to remove inconvenient parts?
- Was the analysis presented in such a way that alternative interpretations of the facts were noted and discussed fairly?
- Can you follow the logic or do you find there are assumed facts not in evidence?
- Is the author's past history of any advocacy well-disclosed so the reader can be forewarned as to any potential bias?
- Were the experiments/benchmarks single-blind or double-blind or no-blind?
- Is the experiment/benchmark methodology well-explained and the results reproducible?
- Where people were surveyed, were the subjects selected randomly (and is the selection method disclosed)?
I haven't looked closely so I will not answer the question about reverse FUD. In any case, I have, at best, a mild interest in Windows TCO or Linux Security studies. I am not a PHB and I do not serve under one, so when I check slashdot comments about these studies, it's to see if someone criticizes the study in terms of the bases I set forth above. Because if a study is dubious, no matter what it advocates, a commenter will point flaws out in a specific manner. I believe there's some signal amidst the noise -- I must be an optimist.Quoting;
Having missed Linus Pauling, Nobel Laureate, advocate for Vitamin C.But, I think of the Peanuts character first, as well. The name is found in the New Testament Bible, IIRC, and looks to be of Latin origin.
The established base, like any other body at rest, needs a motive force to get into motion. OOo being, in some ways, ISO compliant is some force, but, IMHO, not enough force.
But let's think about the future when the market expands and people acquire more machines and/or licenses. Plus, there will be another version of Office, at least, released between now and Longhorn deployment. What features will it add and what licensing model will Microsoft try to push - subscribed web application? So at that point companies will be looking at costs and benefits and that's where it gets interesting. In order to compete in the future, Microsoft may have to include a filter which transforms the ISO standard or Microsoft may have to offer its document format as an alternative ISO format, or Microsoft takes their chances and ignores an international standard. The first two possibilities are good for us consumers, whether we go with Office or OOo.
I'm a little bit surprised that the station (or the consultant who designed the package) didn't register the slogan as a service mark.
After months (or is that years) of denial. I finally went and had my post-middle-aged eyesight corrected and I opted for "transitional lenses." Transitional lenses suck, because the sweet spot for reading or doing close up work is in the lower eighth of the spectacles.
Using a Luxo Jr iMac at work has made these new glasses a less-than-complete disaster because I do lower the screen and angle it so that it is entirely lower than my chin and this makes it easier to work.
Love the look of the new iMacs. I want one, but I will miss that the new ones can only be tilted and not raised or lowered.
Oh. Did I mention transitional lenses suck? Get a reading set if you work a lot with a computer monitor.
Other folks have responded. I'll just point out that the mascot is not Satan. Just as the mascot for the Duke Blue Devils and the icon on Underwood Devilled Ham are not Satan either. There isn't any thing holier about commercial products that have angels as their icon and the Anaheim Angels are not automatically the more righteous baseball team. (Back in the 80s there were baseball players with the name Teufel and Gott. It was not the apocalypse when they faced off.)
You have your faith and its symbols, ethics, and morals. It is a serious question as to how you integrate this into what some may call your secular existence. If you honestly believe that either God, Beelzebub or you will be confused as to your allegiances and as to what your mortal life means, then, you're right, stay away from FreeBSD.
Now, unlike the duality of heaven and hell, there are more than two points on the operating system spectrum. Other unix-like operating systems which do not use a devil mascot are NetBSD, OpenBSD, Linux (many distros), and Solaris x86. The latter is a Unix operating system. Seek and you shall find.
I was waiting for this, where someone's alleged copyright is brought to bear on political speech. Satire or not, talking about them poly-tishuns in DC seems pretty First Amendment protected to me, but I ain't one a them lawyerin types.
The number in Lion KIng 1-1/2 could be a rational number. How about "A Beautiful Mind e: Transcending the Game"?
Washington Mutual did not develop this in order to sell it to others, like an invented consumer device, or a manufacturing plan or process, but to differentiate themselves from other banks. The patent will be used against any other bank (and who know what else) that comes up with a more family friendly / self-serve design, either to get windfall funds or to shut down the competition.
The whole point of rethinking the ambiance surrounding the selling of hamburgers and fries, deposits and withdrawals, sneakers and athletic wear, car washes, or the environment of any interior where someone goes to purchase services or goods, is that the return on investment is an increase in traffic, customers and sales.
On the selfish -- how dare I not get on board the whole government-abetted maximal economic exploitation for every idea juggernaut -- side, I work for interior designers. God help the industry if furniture manufacturers patent some conceputalizaton of the hospital waiting area (so only one person can sell a certain arrangement of ganged chairs and side tables.) In any regards I do not relish that we may need patent attorneys to sign off on our drawings.
On Monday I guess I need to memo my co-workers and urge them to welcome our new patent-wielding interiors overlords.
As the attorney representing the artist explained it very carefully before pocketing 20% of the deal when finally the artist signed.
I use java, but I think that java was designed to outlast Sun. I have at most a mild academic interest in what it would mean to me (or the world) should Sun open Solaris.
Sun did give SCO some money last year and that money enabled SCO to show a profit. What Sun got for the money, exactly, was not clear. That Sun paid the money to capitalize a SCO-built Linux speed-bump seems entirely consistent with what Sun was saying in Spring '03. Okay, it's a year later. SCO is entwined in five law-suits. If they get their way, it will be six law suits (should the IBM patent counter-claims be split off from the main event). That's the smell of money burning. And on the income side? Their Unix operating system products are losing market share, customers are leaving, and it seems that virtually nobody is buying SCO Ip licenses, despite all the shock and awe of SCO suing AutoZone and Daimler-Chrysler. And look at the strategy that SCO has been employing for the last few months -- ask for a delay in a case while pointing to another case as the one that should go first. IMHO, it's a case of delay the inevitable and hope that somebody buys them out or that maybe something survives to be shown to a jury who will root for the "underdog" and nullify contract and ip law, or, perhaps, rewrite copyright law via the courts and secure the right of monopoly in perpetuity for operating system algorithms and api's and then, watch that money roll in.
Does SCO look to you like a winning ticket? So maybe Sun is thinking about what are the good ideas today in order to survive. Well, kiss and make up with Microsoft. Put Linux in inexpensive computers and call it the Java Desktop.
But, regardless of how Sun runs its business, do we actually believe that for the first time in 20 months, SCO is honestly and precisely describing its rights vis a vis SysV code and how those purported rights affect Sun's use of Solaris?
I agree with sibiling posts about Linux keeping Unix alive and introducing it into consumer markets. I was introduced to Unix in 2000 and while we were using Solaris in the lab, it was loopback Mandrake on my machine at home. And I discovered that I prefer unix-like operating systems to Windows.
But let me add this point. Linux and GNU have created an ecosphere for developers who want to scratch itches. With Linux, there is a minimal barrier of entry, no one whines at you when you decide to move a piece of code (such as the os) to a different cpu, no one resists or makes your life difficult if you choose to stay with kernel 2.2.x, and, when combined with its adherence to the unix tradition of giving you the tools to solve your problems, it provides a place to go when its time for code as recreation (re-creation!).
Linux gave the GNU tools a huge boost and, in some sense, a more-or-less philosophically compatible home. And this in turn meant when Apple was ready to take NextStep prime time, as you note, darwin could include or add nfs, samba, xml-parsing, apache, X11, and so on. Linux also meant there would be consumers who would see that Apple's inclusion of open source and free software was totally cool.
I behaved in my teen years as you did. But during my junior year of high school there was some stupid-ass rule about limiting time in the Library to one period per student. The other advanced mathematics kids and I had to wait at least two periods on Tuesday and Thursday for a very late afternoon class, so we submitted false class schedules to the Librarian to acquire multiple phony Library ids and "permission" to read and study beyond our quota. It felt good to walk on that wild side!
Something's in the works. Baystar and SCO are not on the same page as far as how Baystar will receive its most value out of the situation. Baystar cannot be so foolish as to think that changing the CEO would make (a) the lawsuits resolve faster or (b) Linux users cough up $700 per "server" CPU and enter into a contract with SCO (thereby inviting SCO's nose into their business). As for a Microsoft (or any) buyout, it maybe gives Baystar a return on investment, but the new owners of SCO are still on the hook for Lanham Act claims by IBM and RedHat. They are still involved in a battle with Novell over, essentially, the right to even think about suing users and distributors of Linux, FreeBSD or other Unix operating systems. And the new owners, for their millions, will acquire the unmitigated joy of an IP battle with IBM.
Perhaps these Baystar pronouncements are understandable as a negotiation position for Canopy's consideration: our 20 mill now and we go away, otherwise, your execs are going down.
Back in the 70s and 80s when I was reading radio/tv trade publications, I recall a bit of contention between local independent television stations and the superstations on cable (like Ted Turner's WTBS). The complaint was that the amount of money the local stations paid to syndicate second-run tv shows (they were probably thinking about MASH in those days) implied that they should be given exclusivity in their markets (and the local cable operator would have to black out the syndicated program on WTBS). Fortunately, the regulatory agencies and courts didn't buy that one, and I'm sure the "issue" was adjusted over time by the market, i.e., licensing fees being reduced for locals and increased for national broadcasters. The world kept turning. (And the rich got richer.)
The NAB has many members who currently buy national programming with localized trimmings. Some member broadcasters may be about to start their third decade of doing this. Come to think of it, 21 years ago, I was working at a small-town all news station where the international/national news was the audio feed of the CNN Headline News channel (delivered via satellite) and we provided 8 minutes per half hour of local news/programming. If XM/Sirius start "localizing" their programs, then it's time for radio to innovate. After all, radio, you survived the displacement of phonograph records for live performances, how television killed your dramatic programs, how FM in car receivers wiped out AM powerhouses, how consultancy and ever-restricted play lists essentially eliminated the dj as cultural conduit, and how ownership rules have decimated the local family broadcaster. [You and the RIAA blocked internet broadcasters fairly well, but that's because you were going up against people without money.] Well, time for a new chapter; turn the page. Your MBA's may be thinking widgets, but this is radio - giving people something that's worth listening to - and don't count on government for saving your butts when somebody else with deep pockets comes strolling into town.
Wasn't stolen. This happens a lot. How many times have we seen a preview for an (allegedly) quirky comedy scored to the music of Get Shorty? Could be someone in marketing decided that using the Stargate theme will help make the sci-fi connection better than the existing score, or that there wasn't any choice as the film's score is incomplete or being rewritten, even at this late date.
I saw the preview before Spartan on Friday. The stylized production design looks good for a trailer. But 100 minutes of this? And saving the world from future beings in future technology with 1942 (US) fighter planes? Only today's earlier Lord of the Rings musical seems more dubious. But good luck to everyone.
Here's a wacky scenario, offered for amusement only. E-mail leaks (and is confirmed by SCO with a "but the sender was reminded later of the error of his ways") because the spigot had been shut off. And the timing: the day after two new law suits could not obscure the terrible financial results of the first quarter, resulting in a serious drop in stock value.
Every year computers get faster, and the elements of the application become blunter as they enlarge from bits and registers to objects and patterns. Every year thousands of people graduate with the skills that you applied back in 1990. Every year lots of people realize that that data structure that was used over there would work out well to solve this problem over here. In short, my casual advice, given as a member of the last slide-rule generation, would be to get over this idea that you can create an idea, put a wall around it, and charge admission. Some folks will, but they ultimately rely on being 800 lb. gorillas backed up with a 1000 lb. gorilla (the government) to protect it. This model is as doomed as alchemy was.
As we speak, somebody is explaining to him that .NET deployment involves a kind of dynamic linking that's a nice inprovement from the old way, and he'll think .NET is glorious again.
Fair enough. Though perhaps your heading should be "It will be then again." And I suppose the point with Mr. Spolsky is figuring out when it's an idiotic enthusiasm and when it's a brilliant insight, meaning, I guess one should exercise much care before citing him as an endorser or condemner of a platform.
Last month, Mr. Spolsky noted he had acquired a more nuanced point of view about when to develop in C#. Still, as your link notes, he thought it was the thing to do in April aught-two.
This and other items may be found under "3 Open Issues."
It's not a major point of dispute, but I like /sw/bin = fink, /opt/local/bin = darwinports, /bin /usr/local/bin, etc. = Apple (from FreeBSD)
Does the Microsoft .net EULA(s) still forbid publicizing benchmarks results? (Don't flame if this changed -- it's not my platform so I'm not paying close attention.)
If I understand it correctly, Wal-Mart's core competency is using its size to negotiate down the costs from distributors and producers. I suspect that if Wal-Mart is offering their music for less, they are paying less to the record companies. The nexus for the agreement may very well be the more restrictive nature of the consumer's use of the Wal-Mart music files. There may even be co-op money for Wal-Mart from Microsoft for promoting the WMA format.
As this is the entertainment business, I'll just point out that when HBO started to look like it could be a success, other companies started movie channels. And within a few years all the major film studios had exclusive deals with the channels for the right to be the first channel to show the studio's releases. Something similar happened when others saw MTV's success and they followed behind. Deals for 90 day (IIRC) exclusivity proliferated between the channels and the record companies. I wouldn't be surprised if exclusivity doesn't begin to appear this year, and not to Apple's advantage.