How about an operating system? It's an algorithm that's continuously looping, responding to user inputs. You can only predict the outcome of an algorithm if you can precisely define the input, and in this case the input has an extra element: time.
Million monkeys banging on keyboards? How's that for input statement...
This just in: Current generation fails to use the slide rule, and is lousy at doing math without pocket calculator.
So in ten years we'll see the first messages here on slashdot that the new generation relies too heavily on their implants and cannot use google properly.
assuming you want to create a heterogeneous environment. He is in fact right. To establish a monopoly, you have to create a homogenous environment, and lock everybody out with closed standards.
I still think it's a people problem, and yes, a management problem. Some clueless *** of a manager commanding Windows to be used in a system where failiure of the system can kill people... Should 've listened to the nerds.
Automating the current cars is not that difficult. The easiest way is putting cars on tracks, like a tram or a train. No difficult stuff with visual sensors, of special roads.
Making a system that calculates a route to a destination is easy, keeping a proper distance, automated parking,... You don't even lose the 'advantage' of having your own car.
It is however a bit more expensive for the government to lay the tracks, and the system, and if there's an accident, it's not the drivers fault, but the government's fault.
Sure. With the current American Justice System. The first person who 'll hurt his pinkie when the car does a bit of a hard landing while not wearing his seatbelt, will sue the crap outof the manufacturer. It's not about technical possibilities, but about liability.
If you smack against a tree with your car it's your driving that's the cause except when someting is seriously wrong with the car. If it's an automated system, it's not gonna take a long time for the first sue. That's why they don't een consider automating the current infrastructure.
Actually, the sales are down by 20%. Popular filesharing is down by 30%. Offcourse, this is not proof. You have to take into account iTunes and likes, and the decline of the economy.
As I see it all alternatives will soon be history. The Big One is patenting everything it has, als will soon or later have technology patented used in Linux. So they can start suing everyone who uses linux for not paying their licenses. You wondered why the Software Patents were important to MIcrosoft?
They are overshooting a little. They should think 'gadgets' and not personal networks for the time being.
Storing data in your cloathes is not very practical. 'Damn, left my pr0n on my jacket and my mom is washing it right now.' Jewelery is more fitted for this. A watch with hard disk and bluetooth connection for example, or a necklace.
There are other applications that can be very fun, although not immediatly practical. Combine electronic ink and T-shirt. You get a T-shirt that can change it's print and color. This one is ready to become the next hype, next to the ring tones and logo's on cell phones!
Besides, I don't like the idea that a PC is watching me all te time.
And obviously there are gonna be huge traffic jams on the on and of ramps. There will only be a few ramps, so when the river gets more populated with this 'cars' they will cause major traffic jams, but on the water.
The same goes for the flying cars. Imagine the hurds of cars hoovering above the city searching for a parking spot...
No manager is gonna listen to stories like this. It's only when their market share drop because some competitor is cheaper with his IT-department and can invest more in advertising that they are gonna realise this.
It reminds me a lot of those experiments where they gave cows waterbeds to sleep on, so they would give more milk. They'll try everything tp squeeze a little more productivity out of there employees. It's Human Resources (emphase on Resources) afterall.
I feel that too.
The "society" is a system designed to uphold that system. And we need to play along to uphold it. Ihis upholding is done by your fellow citizens. Say that I take the bike of pulbic transportation to go to work. Then my colleages look at my strangely because I am supposed to come to work by car. Yet another status symbol.
Most people with social feelings will want to be liked by their fellow man. So they cave in under the social pressure, buy a car and work hard to pay the damn thing.
Only a few elite are above this and they want you to buy more gadgets. That's the system. If you don't follow the rules you are banned from society. No work, no healthcare, no home. The gutter it is.
It remains a fact that our lives there days are just to safe. Nicely tucked in, mimimal risk lives. And with that they took a lot of the exitement out of our lives.
But when a game becomes more satisfying than your job, maybe you should think of getting a new career rather than immersing yourself in ever more sophisticated games software.
Maybe we don't need another job but only an new mamager to keep things interesting.
Re:This may be true for some, but it's not for me
on
Robots Without a Cause
·
· Score: 2
I think these 'gadgets' are laying the foundation for al large leap in technology. If the toys like the robot dog Aibo are becomming better and better with each new innovation. Funded by commerce, the technology can become very interesting.
Development in Artificial Intelligence is coming close to a breakthrough. Just becouse game developers need it to make their games better.
The engineers from the Audi may develop better electronic muscles because they are better for the car.
I am gratefull for having a job. But the CEO has set the compagny on a collision course. I can tell you, that does not improve moral. All developer are trying to adjust this course, but the manager of the development sees this as an attack on his rules, idea's, standards and an attach om him as person.
This manager is the prototype of 'bad coder turns into bad manager'-type. He's defense on our 'attacks' is the whip-n-row technique. Mainly threats of being fired.
The CEO is not helping much to solve this problem. The manager is a close friend of the CEO. Every 'attack' on the standards is seen as an attach on the manager and thus an attack on the CEO.
Now we have software that barely functions and neets to be taken care of like it is a disabled infant. Support is about 50% of an avarage day. Projects are deliverd with more then two years delay!
So now the compagny is in finacial sh!t. How do the adjust the policy? They don't, and continue with what they are doing. Accounts go deeper into the red, but management maintains collision course.
To quickly summorise what went wrong:
o Incompetent coder becomes incompetent managemer
o Do not listen to the people on the floor, pretend to know everything like it was God-given
o If something does not work, keep on using it because it's your baby
o Do not make prototypes. Those are for stupid people. Do everything like it was written on paper in the fist place.
o Invest in paper. Let the developer write every insignificant detail down, and forget to document how everything should work togehter
o Tell your employees that they are insignigicant and they receive lowest priority.
o Keep them in the dark about everything that's happening. Let them figure everything out with rumours.
What should 've been done:
o Everything discussed above
o Ask the developers what to do about the system, and let them provide the solutions. They work with it every day, they know wat the problems are.
o Give respect to the workers. Give them there salary on time.
o Share information about the company
o Give people freedom to act, do not micromanage everything
Actually, when people buy an expensive peace of software, like SAP, they can afford expensive software engineers, 'cause the realtive cost is low.
When they implement free software, every cent spent on the software engineer is to much. Yes, the yobs remain, but it won't be something to get rich.
People say, 'Well, how come we can't build software the way we build bridges?'
The way I explain it is by using the analogy of a car. Bridges are static. Most of them have no moving parts and the forces can be exactly calculated.
A car has a LOT of moving and functioning parts. Gears, belts, valves, pumps, lights, handles, levers,... They all have to work together. Some may be malfunctioning, and some may crash/stall the engine.
No one, as far as I know, has been able to calculate in advance how much stress an engine as a whole van withstand, how long it will keep on running without problems.
People have been driving cars for a hundred years, and still they break down. The mean time between failure is dropping, using electronics, other materials and other techniques, but they still break down.
As is the same for software. Thousand pieces glued together functioning as a whole. Better standards and techniques are being adopted, but as cars will still break down so will software.
Of course there's a commercial reason to. It is company suicide to build a perfect car, because new ones won't replace them and the cash flow stops. This is the same for software. People got to have an incentive to upgrade. Managers make those deadlines so tight for a reason: so you wouldn't make it perfect.
Slashdot Mirror
How about an operating system? It's an algorithm that's continuously looping, responding to user inputs. You can only predict the outcome of an algorithm if you can precisely define the input, and in this case the input has an extra element: time.
Million monkeys banging on keyboards? How's that for input statement...
I was thinking a bit more "this ship will self-destruct in 60 minutes". If there's nothing to get but debris there's no reason to attack the ships.
So in ten years we'll see the first messages here on slashdot that the new generation relies too heavily on their implants and cannot use google properly.
Same ol' Same ol'
It sure gives a whole new set of excuses. "Can't do overtime boss, gotta do some cardio training. The system said so."
to work in a heterogeneous environment
assuming you want to create a heterogeneous environment. He is in fact right. To establish a monopoly, you have to create a homogenous environment, and lock everybody out with closed standards.
I still think it's a people problem, and yes, a management problem. Some clueless *** of a manager commanding Windows to be used in a system where failiure of the system can kill people... Should 've listened to the nerds.
Automating the current cars is not that difficult. The easiest way is putting cars on tracks, like a tram or a train. No difficult stuff with visual sensors, of special roads.
... You don't even lose the 'advantage' of having your own car.
Making a system that calculates a route to a destination is easy, keeping a proper distance, automated parking,
It is however a bit more expensive for the government to lay the tracks, and the system, and if there's an accident, it's not the drivers fault, but the government's fault.
Sure. With the current American Justice System. The first person who 'll hurt his pinkie when the car does a bit of a hard landing while not wearing his seatbelt, will sue the crap outof the manufacturer. It's not about technical possibilities, but about liability.
If you smack against a tree with your car it's your driving that's the cause except when someting is seriously wrong with the car. If it's an automated system, it's not gonna take a long time for the first sue. That's why they don't een consider automating the current infrastructure.
Posted yesterday on slashdot (time for a repost;)
;)
Actually, the sales are down by 20%. Popular filesharing is down by 30%. Offcourse, this is not proof. You have to take into account iTunes and likes, and the decline of the economy.
But I can't help and smile
As I see it all alternatives will soon be history. The Big One is patenting everything it has, als will soon or later have technology patented used in Linux. So they can start suing everyone who uses linux for not paying their licenses. You wondered why the Software Patents were important to MIcrosoft?
Storing data in your cloathes is not very practical. 'Damn, left my pr0n on my jacket and my mom is washing it right now.' Jewelery is more fitted for this. A watch with hard disk and bluetooth connection for example, or a necklace.
There are other applications that can be very fun, although not immediatly practical. Combine electronic ink and T-shirt. You get a T-shirt that can change it's print and color. This one is ready to become the next hype, next to the ring tones and logo's on cell phones!
Besides, I don't like the idea that a PC is watching me all te time.
While they are busy, why don't they sue Smith & Wesson for making leathal weapons?
And obviously there are gonna be huge traffic jams on the on and of ramps. There will only be a few ramps, so when the river gets more populated with this 'cars' they will cause major traffic jams, but on the water. The same goes for the flying cars. Imagine the hurds of cars hoovering above the city searching for a parking spot...
I wonder what he would say about Microsoft Flight Simulator
If you don't use the creativity of your employers, they will use that creativity to duck work and work against you.
So, is it the boss are the employee's fault? Probably the employee's fault, 'cause the boss is allways right.
No manager is gonna listen to stories like this. It's only when their market share drop because some competitor is cheaper with his IT-department and can invest more in advertising that they are gonna realise this.
It reminds me a lot of those experiments where they gave cows waterbeds to sleep on, so they would give more milk. They'll try everything tp squeeze a little more productivity out of there employees. It's Human Resources (emphase on Resources) afterall.
I feel that too. The "society" is a system designed to uphold that system. And we need to play along to uphold it. Ihis upholding is done by your fellow citizens. Say that I take the bike of pulbic transportation to go to work. Then my colleages look at my strangely because I am supposed to come to work by car. Yet another status symbol. Most people with social feelings will want to be liked by their fellow man. So they cave in under the social pressure, buy a car and work hard to pay the damn thing. Only a few elite are above this and they want you to buy more gadgets. That's the system. If you don't follow the rules you are banned from society. No work, no healthcare, no home. The gutter it is. It remains a fact that our lives there days are just to safe. Nicely tucked in, mimimal risk lives. And with that they took a lot of the exitement out of our lives.
Maybe we don't need another job but only an new mamager to keep things interesting.
I think these 'gadgets' are laying the foundation for al large leap in technology. If the toys like the robot dog Aibo are becomming better and better with each new innovation. Funded by commerce, the technology can become very interesting.
Development in Artificial Intelligence is coming close to a breakthrough. Just becouse game developers need it to make their games better.
The engineers from the Audi may develop better electronic muscles because they are better for the car.
I am gratefull for having a job. But the CEO has set the compagny on a collision course. I can tell you, that does not improve moral. All developer are trying to adjust this course, but the manager of the development sees this as an attack on his rules, idea's, standards and an attach om him as person.
This manager is the prototype of 'bad coder turns into bad manager'-type. He's defense on our 'attacks' is the whip-n-row technique. Mainly threats of being fired.
The CEO is not helping much to solve this problem. The manager is a close friend of the CEO. Every 'attack' on the standards is seen as an attach on the manager and thus an attack on the CEO.
Now we have software that barely functions and neets to be taken care of like it is a disabled infant. Support is about 50% of an avarage day. Projects are deliverd with more then two years delay!
So now the compagny is in finacial sh!t. How do the adjust the policy? They don't, and continue with what they are doing. Accounts go deeper into the red, but management maintains collision course.
To quickly summorise what went wrong:
o Incompetent coder becomes incompetent managemer
o Do not listen to the people on the floor, pretend to know everything like it was God-given
o If something does not work, keep on using it because it's your baby
o Do not make prototypes. Those are for stupid people. Do everything like it was written on paper in the fist place.
o Invest in paper. Let the developer write every insignificant detail down, and forget to document how everything should work togehter
o Tell your employees that they are insignigicant and they receive lowest priority.
o Keep them in the dark about everything that's happening. Let them figure everything out with rumours.
What should 've been done:
o Everything discussed above
o Ask the developers what to do about the system, and let them provide the solutions. They work with it every day, they know wat the problems are.
o Give respect to the workers. Give them there salary on time.
o Share information about the company
o Give people freedom to act, do not micromanage everything
Actually, when people buy an expensive peace of software, like SAP, they can afford expensive software engineers, 'cause the realtive cost is low. When they implement free software, every cent spent on the software engineer is to much. Yes, the yobs remain, but it won't be something to get rich.
"It's not a bug, it's a feature."
People say, 'Well, how come we can't build software the way we build bridges?' The way I explain it is by using the analogy of a car. Bridges are static. Most of them have no moving parts and the forces can be exactly calculated. A car has a LOT of moving and functioning parts. Gears, belts, valves, pumps, lights, handles, levers, ... They all have to work together. Some may be malfunctioning, and some may crash/stall the engine.
No one, as far as I know, has been able to calculate in advance how much stress an engine as a whole van withstand, how long it will keep on running without problems.
People have been driving cars for a hundred years, and still they break down. The mean time between failure is dropping, using electronics, other materials and other techniques, but they still break down.
As is the same for software. Thousand pieces glued together functioning as a whole. Better standards and techniques are being adopted, but as cars will still break down so will software.
Of course there's a commercial reason to. It is company suicide to build a perfect car, because new ones won't replace them and the cash flow stops. This is the same for software. People got to have an incentive to upgrade. Managers make those deadlines so tight for a reason: so you wouldn't make it perfect.
In the last years there were more experiments with tidal and wave energy. Were. Most experiments were halted abruptly with a nice storm.