Too bad the Xoom has such mediocre battery life. There's really no excuse for that. I have an Android phone (Nexus S) and want an Android tablet, but I'm not buying one with a 5-6 hour battery life.
Microsoft makes a fantastic debugger, but it isn't the one in Visual Studio. I'm talking about WinDbg. It's the best debugger I have used on any platform.
My problem with Visual Studio isn't with the functionality it has (although I find it slow), it's what is missing. The biggest problem for me is the lack of refactoring support. There are plugins that add this, but they add $250 to the $700 price tag (for the professional version).
You are the first person I have heard say it is as good as the iPad 2. I'm still waiting to hear what the Xoom's battery life is like. I would be pleasantly surprised if they managed to beat Apple here. With all the extra bulk, they should be able to.
For me, the big problem with the Xoom is the lack of software. In a year, that will likely change but for now there's far more iPad software out there than Android 3.0 software. I'm talking about software that makes good use of the tablet characteristics and isn't just a phone app upscaled to the larger screen size.
Everybody has something that they wish the government didn't spend tax money on. I for one, wish the defense budget was an order of magnitude lower. There are lots of people who worry about their tax money paying for an abortion. You don't like the automotive infrastructure. Of all the things that might get scaled way back, I'm guessing "roads" isn't even a consideration for a huge majority of the voters in the US. I'm also thinking that most people believe the rise of the car was good for America. It certainly had some benefits.
I agree with you. 30 years ago, if I were into making some crafty widget, I could sell it around my neighborhood and maybe take it to a few arts and crafts fairs. With the internet and sites like eBay and Etsy, I can make something and sell it globally.
It's an interesting chicken-and-egg problem. How do you develop the support infrastructure in parallel to the distribution program? I don't think you can. I think you have to jump and assume that the first generation or two of devices will be disposable. Eventually, you may reach a tipping point where support and repair services are provided where they are needed.
If I were to buy an e-reader like a Kindle, what would I do if it breaks? There's no Kindle repair hut near me either. I would have to send it somewhere. I don't know if that same answer works in the middle of Africa.
Things like aimbots and wall hacks have been around for at least a year now making the game unplayable (IMHO). It's a poorly made game that has basically been unsupported by Activision after launch on all platforms. Saying the game is now even more ruined is a bit like saying someone is more pregnant.
First, I think Geohot should eventually be vindicated.
What makes a crypto key any different?
The DMCA. I think a crypto key will be portrayed by Sony as a device in the same way that a key that starts a car or unlocks your house is a device. Once they establish that, they will use the DMCA to try to silence and punish him.
There are a few differences though. First, the key is quite literally just a number. It isn't a digital representation of something physical. Secondly, Geohot has been consistent when talking about cracking the PS3 and never implying or suggesting that this is for piracy.
What I think will ultimately be Sony's undoing is their removal of the OtherOS feature. This provides a pretty significant non-piracy motive for cracking the PS3.
You might be technically correct, but practically you are not.
Try writing and distributing a video compressor without getting sued by MPEG-LA. If I can write software that infringes on a patent, then software is effectively patentable.
I think the difference between a device and an idea is the specificity of it. You can't (or shouldn't be able to) patent the idea of a device that catches mice. However, you should be able to patent a particular arrangement of springs and levers that constitute your particular device that catches mice.
For computer code, you don't patent your source or object code as it's covered by copyright. Trying the patent the idea that is manifested in that code is akin to patenting the idea of a mouse trap.
Even if you were able to convince me that the benefits of allowing software patents is greater than not allowing them, you would never be able to convince me that a 20 year term makes any sense at all.
Software or an algorithm shouldn't be patentable because they aren't inventions, they are ideas or mathematics. Inventions are patentable, ideas are not.
Most of the developers went to Libre? Are you sure about that? The last I heard most of the development was still carried out in Germany by (former) StarOffice developers on Oracle's payroll. Has that changed?
In a shareholder lawsuit, I think it would be pretty hard to convince a judge that Nokia would be better off competing openly with the likes of HTC in the Android world than accepting billions of dollars from Microsoft and getting to be the premier WP7 platform.
Re:Nokia is being taken over by Microsoft
on
Why Nokia Is Toast
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· Score: 2
By saying "being taken over by Microsoft" you are implying that this was Microsoft's move. I think it was the other way around. Nokia is screwed, they know that, and decided a while ago to dump their software and license WP7. The best way to do accomplish this is to hire somebody from Microsoft who knows and understands Microsoft. I'm certain they are getting a better deal and preferential treatment than any other WP7 licensee.
In the low end Nokia is going to get eaten alive by cheap Chinese phones. They won't be great phones, but they will be dirt cheap and will sell by the truckload in the developing world.
In the high end, Nokia has to compete with companies like Apple and HTC. On one hand, Apple is super focused and dumps all their resources into a very small number of products and owns the ecosystem. On the other hand, HTC is small and nimble and willing to take chances. Compare this with Nokia -- which is a slow, conservative, giant and doesn't stand a chance against these smaller companies when it comes to innovation.
What's left for them?
I think Nokia brought in a former Microsoftie to run their company because they knew they were going to be licensing WP7. I'm sure they are getting a crazy good deal and plenty of promises from Microsoft. It's probably the biggest gamble that Nokia was willing to make and I think it's only going to prolong their descent into irrelevance.
How long has it been since execute permissions were based on the name? I'm pretty sure that hasn't been true since Windows 2000 and maybe even NT. At least with NTFS.
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Too bad the Xoom has such mediocre battery life. There's really no excuse for that. I have an Android phone (Nexus S) and want an Android tablet, but I'm not buying one with a 5-6 hour battery life.
Microsoft makes a fantastic debugger, but it isn't the one in Visual Studio. I'm talking about WinDbg. It's the best debugger I have used on any platform.
My problem with Visual Studio isn't with the functionality it has (although I find it slow), it's what is missing. The biggest problem for me is the lack of refactoring support. There are plugins that add this, but they add $250 to the $700 price tag (for the professional version).
Visual Studio is ok, but it's very overpriced and poorly supported by Microsoft.
My favorite IDE is IDEA from Jetbrains.
I remember one time I accidentally created a SIP client. I was just trying to compute some fibonacci numbers.
And when you sell a million units every month, those costs become far less significant.
You are the first person I have heard say it is as good as the iPad 2. I'm still waiting to hear what the Xoom's battery life is like. I would be pleasantly surprised if they managed to beat Apple here. With all the extra bulk, they should be able to.
For me, the big problem with the Xoom is the lack of software. In a year, that will likely change but for now there's far more iPad software out there than Android 3.0 software. I'm talking about software that makes good use of the tablet characteristics and isn't just a phone app upscaled to the larger screen size.
Everybody has something that they wish the government didn't spend tax money on. I for one, wish the defense budget was an order of magnitude lower. There are lots of people who worry about their tax money paying for an abortion. You don't like the automotive infrastructure. Of all the things that might get scaled way back, I'm guessing "roads" isn't even a consideration for a huge majority of the voters in the US. I'm also thinking that most people believe the rise of the car was good for America. It certainly had some benefits.
I agree with you. 30 years ago, if I were into making some crafty widget, I could sell it around my neighborhood and maybe take it to a few arts and crafts fairs. With the internet and sites like eBay and Etsy, I can make something and sell it globally.
I think it would have been interesting for them to see what they could do with WebOS and HP. I wonder if that was even discussed?
It's an interesting chicken-and-egg problem. How do you develop the support infrastructure in parallel to the distribution program? I don't think you can. I think you have to jump and assume that the first generation or two of devices will be disposable. Eventually, you may reach a tipping point where support and repair services are provided where they are needed.
If I were to buy an e-reader like a Kindle, what would I do if it breaks? There's no Kindle repair hut near me either. I would have to send it somewhere. I don't know if that same answer works in the middle of Africa.
Things like aimbots and wall hacks have been around for at least a year now making the game unplayable (IMHO). It's a poorly made game that has basically been unsupported by Activision after launch on all platforms. Saying the game is now even more ruined is a bit like saying someone is more pregnant.
The cheats for MW2 were rampant before he released the key.
You're right - it's much worse. It's about the right to communicate with your peers about your tinkering.
First, I think Geohot should eventually be vindicated.
The DMCA. I think a crypto key will be portrayed by Sony as a device in the same way that a key that starts a car or unlocks your house is a device. Once they establish that, they will use the DMCA to try to silence and punish him.
There are a few differences though. First, the key is quite literally just a number. It isn't a digital representation of something physical. Secondly, Geohot has been consistent when talking about cracking the PS3 and never implying or suggesting that this is for piracy.
What I think will ultimately be Sony's undoing is their removal of the OtherOS feature. This provides a pretty significant non-piracy motive for cracking the PS3.
This patent attorney disagrees with you.
You might be technically correct, but practically you are not.
Try writing and distributing a video compressor without getting sued by MPEG-LA. If I can write software that infringes on a patent, then software is effectively patentable.
I think the difference between a device and an idea is the specificity of it. You can't (or shouldn't be able to) patent the idea of a device that catches mice. However, you should be able to patent a particular arrangement of springs and levers that constitute your particular device that catches mice.
For computer code, you don't patent your source or object code as it's covered by copyright. Trying the patent the idea that is manifested in that code is akin to patenting the idea of a mouse trap.
Even if you were able to convince me that the benefits of allowing software patents is greater than not allowing them, you would never be able to convince me that a 20 year term makes any sense at all.
That's exactly right. The idea of a laser is not patentable. An actual design of a laser is.
It all comes down to whether or not you think an algorithm is a device. Reasonable people can disagree about this.
Software or an algorithm shouldn't be patentable because they aren't inventions, they are ideas or mathematics. Inventions are patentable, ideas are not.
Most of the developers went to Libre? Are you sure about that? The last I heard most of the development was still carried out in Germany by (former) StarOffice developers on Oracle's payroll. Has that changed?
You forgot about MS writing checks with 9 or 10 zeros on them.
This deal includes Microsoft paying Nokia billions of dollars.
In a shareholder lawsuit, I think it would be pretty hard to convince a judge that Nokia would be better off competing openly with the likes of HTC in the Android world than accepting billions of dollars from Microsoft and getting to be the premier WP7 platform.
By saying "being taken over by Microsoft" you are implying that this was Microsoft's move. I think it was the other way around. Nokia is screwed, they know that, and decided a while ago to dump their software and license WP7. The best way to do accomplish this is to hire somebody from Microsoft who knows and understands Microsoft. I'm certain they are getting a better deal and preferential treatment than any other WP7 licensee.
In the low end Nokia is going to get eaten alive by cheap Chinese phones. They won't be great phones, but they will be dirt cheap and will sell by the truckload in the developing world.
In the high end, Nokia has to compete with companies like Apple and HTC. On one hand, Apple is super focused and dumps all their resources into a very small number of products and owns the ecosystem. On the other hand, HTC is small and nimble and willing to take chances. Compare this with Nokia -- which is a slow, conservative, giant and doesn't stand a chance against these smaller companies when it comes to innovation.
What's left for them?
I think Nokia brought in a former Microsoftie to run their company because they knew they were going to be licensing WP7. I'm sure they are getting a crazy good deal and plenty of promises from Microsoft. It's probably the biggest gamble that Nokia was willing to make and I think it's only going to prolong their descent into irrelevance.
How long has it been since execute permissions were based on the name? I'm pretty sure that hasn't been true since Windows 2000 and maybe even NT. At least with NTFS.