You're right, and I believe we're in for a hell of a rough time in the years ahead. I think that those in power (the wealthy) have targeted the entire middle class for extinction. We're economically inconvenient (how DARE we ask for a living wage? who do we think we ARE?), we're politically inconvenient (we don't vote the way rich people would prefer we vote, hence Bush's fixed election), and we're socially inconvenient (we don't agree with the rich about their supposed superiority, we don't care about "breeding" or class issues, and we're not shy about mentioning this to any rich people who happen to cross our paths). It's easy for the rich to crush us; all they have to do is eliminate our jobs. So they do; they farm out the work to third-world people they're not intimidated by. So much for the middle class... And, lest any Indians or Eastern Europeans take issue with this, and feed me an arrogant line about quality or value, let me point out that as soon as the rich perceive that YOU are becoming a problem, you'll get written off too. It's all about money and status, it has nothing to do with relative abilities.
It's a good recipe for a complete, worldwide, economic collapse. First the West, then other countries in a chain, so that eventually we're all reduced to a low common denominator and the work goes to whatever rat-ass country happens to be cheapest *right now*.
One interesting thing: this has been foreseen in science fiction since the early 1980's. Read up on your cyberpunk fiction; much of it foresees a society in which there are fewer traditional jobs, and far more black and grey market trading among disenfranchised people at street level. In the stories I've read, people basically just withdraw from the system, go underground, and live on barter. What do you think is going to happen when people get fed up with having to work minimum-wage jobs in the Gap, and they start really trying to form an underground? When they burn their ID's, go off the network, let all that credit card and student loan debt go unpaid, and morph into completely new, underground people, whole new identities. You don't need ID if you live on barter... Let corporate America choke on THAT for a while, and see how they feel about eliminating jobs.
Who knows? Maybe people will figure this out and put in some worker-protection rules. But probably not. We're all going to hell in a handbasket. But I don't care anymore. I'm just going to look out the window and enjoy the ride.
What they meant was, tech jobs will double -- so there'll be two times zero jobs available, i.e. none. Of course, we knew that already, but then the media doesn't often point out anything useful.
I thought the original Star Wars series was ok, and worth watching once, but suffered because it was a little too kid-oriented (Ewoks??? Jawas??? too much obligatory cuteness). I don't see why people have to get so obsessed over it (did you see the guys dressing up as Jedi and lining up for the Phantom Menace? Holy Moly). And, the new series kinda sucks. Why did George Lucas make the Jedi into such a bunch of joyless fucks??? No love, no sex, no possessions, can't have fun, can't do anything amusing... Who the hell would join such an organization? No wonder they roam around, kidnapping kids to make new Jedi. Adults would chase them off with pitchforks and torches.;)
And, don't get me started on Star Trek. God, what awfulness. At least the original Gene Roddenberry series was an allegory for something. You had the USS Enterprise (named after an aircraft carrier), Klingons (who were basically communist Russians), Romulans (I guess Red China?) and so on. It let Roddenberry examine the cold war without being obvious about it, and he occasionally examined a traditional sci-fi deep thought or two. Not worth obsession or anyting, but amusing. But, God, the new series don't even have that to recommend them! They're so boring and sad... I mean, Jesus, it's all about geek wish-fulfillment: all the crafty techies doing techie things, with supporting women all around them, but never stealing their thunder, and so on. And, they're all so annoyingly typecast: Oh, Klingons are always butch, whatserface is the "sensitive one", the borg chick is cold and aloof... DULL, DULL DULL. Ick, foo.
And, don't get me started on all the crazy trekkies, walking around with chirping starfleet insignias on their chests... Did you hear about that maniac who spoke to his son only in Klingon for the first two years of the kid's life, making the kid's primary language KLINGON??? What is WRONG with these people? That kid's gonna be a mental case for the rest of his life.
Excellent suggestions; all I'd like to add is that I've had very good experiences with Philips brand monitors, (in fact I'm looking at one right now) and I'd recommend them to anyone. Mine is a year or two old, and it looks gorgeous; it's a Philips 107S, and cost 175.00 new. Hard to find these days, but if you can dig one up, you'll love it.
I'm not saying the UN would do that great a job. I'm just saying it's a really crummy idea to turn this war into a profiteering opportunity-grab. We shouldn't be over there; we shouldn't stick around now that it's effectively over with. The longer we're there, the more they're going to hate our guts, the more American soldiers are going to get wasted, and the worse our international reputation is going to get. We should get out, pronto, before the folks over there forget that we got rid of Saddam for them and start thinking "damn yankee invaders". Let someone else lose troops to suicide bombers. Let France send a few over. Let Germany pick up the slack. Bring our guys home, and show some integrity -- don't let corporate America make a profit over this thing. That's all I'm saying.
SN74S181 spat, "That's code-speak for 'whatever vegetarian hippies in Berkeley say is right' isn't it?"
No, dipshit. What this means is, don't send them fucking hamburgers, give them what the people in the region eat. This shouldn't be too hard to research; the UN shouldn't have any trouble with it at all.
Then, he said "'Not in your name' dude. Why don't you go tell the newly freed Iraqi people you were backing Saddam all the way"
Sigh; why do these gung-ho types always stoop straight to the cheap shots? I'm so sick of you armchair warriors shooting your mouths off. Why don't you prove how tough you are and enlist? We'll throw you a going-away party.
That's interesting; pupil tracking instead of mousing. I'm not sure whether I'd like that; I think I'll stick with my trackball (I'm a crusty sort). But, still, it's interesting.
The reconstruction of Iraq has already been handed off to politically-connected construction and contracting companies, and thus is inherently completely corrupt. If you get involved with it, you are contributing to a corrupt situation and are, by extension, tainted by it.
The correct thing to do here is to let international aid groups move in and give the Iraqis what they actually need: dependable sources of drinking and bathing water, rebuilt housing and infrastructure (IE roads and electric power), food they're accustomed to, and a little dignity. THIS means, fire Halliburton and let the U.N. handle the reconstruction (with generous funding from us). We shouldn't have started this war in the first place; now that it's over we should pull out and fund a U.N. driven recovery.
I have no doubt whatsoever that as soon as this becomes feasible in production, it will go into production and get heavily marketed. What makes this so awful is, once this exists, you'll never know whether your screen can do this or not (unless, that is, you're sniffing your network connection to see if any traffic is being sent). You'll always be wondering whether anyone is watching you.
So much for surfing pr0n, with one hand on the mouse... Hehehehe.
On the other hand, you could get around this with a cheap, plastic one-way-mirror film taped over the screen. 'Course, then, whatever's on the screen'd get captured.
If this sort of thing ever gets widespread, I'm going to get me one of these:
http://www.tekgear.com/product.cfm?sku=0031
Let 'em try and monitor THAT ("Um... Sir, his pupils are dilated, and he's blinking a lot... Should we send an email suggesting eyedrops?").
Let's not get carried away here. I'm just pointing out that whatever you can do with a hopped up PC, you can do with a hopped up laptop. But, to address some of your gripes,
Laptops are now available in the sub-1000.00 range brand new, and they've always been available on Ebay for a few hundred bucks. So if you're cheap, you can get a cheap laptop. You got cute with costs, by the way -- you compared a cheap PC to a midrange laptop. That's dirty pool. Compare like to like, please.
Laptops generally have large hard disks, so you only need to buy the external one if you want an extra. I was addressing the guy who wanted *two* disks on his machine; you have to buy the second disk for a PC, too (duh!). Again, you're not comparing like to like.
Most laptops now come with CD burners, and some have combination CD/DVD burners. So you don't *have* to get an external one, but you *can*.
Go ahead and rethink your complaints. I think you'll agree that they don't really hold water, and you're just clinging to your PC without any real reason for doing so. You'll feel better.
All you PC nuts remind me of the old horse-and-buggy owners. "Nah, I ain't gonna get me one of them newfangled whatchermacallits. I got my buggy, and my ole horse, Bessie. She's got the get up and go, boy, she can do ten miles an hour when she gets her dander up! Yessir, no reason to quit using this horse and buggy..."
That's a pretty cool idea actually; turning the laptop from a single-processor unit to a dual-processor unit. As far as the silent thing goes, I read an article about how they're already doing that using a fluid flowing in small pipes inside a laptop, so that the fluid draws heat away from the processor -- result: no fan, and no air having to come into the laptop (so the laptop can be totally sealed). The point may not be silent running, but it's a side effect.;)
I disagree. The current set of iBooks have magnesium frames, and shock-mounted hard drives. These ideas came from the genre of "mil-spec" laptops which traditionally were sold to the military and the police (and telecommunications companies, oil surveyors, etc).
Soon you'll be seeing more and more durable laptops, and more power within each laptop. And, remember -- every laptop has a plug in the back where you can connect as large a monitor as you can afford, a keyboard jack, a mouse jack...
USB, Firewire, and etc let you put any kind of CD Burner you want on a laptop, and you can use flash cards as a second hard disk with a PCMCIA adapter (something that is more difficult albeit still possible with a PC). You can also get an external 20GB hard disk and hook it up to the firewire port.
Basically, what I'm trying to say is that anything you can do with a PC you can do with a laptop, and you can take the laptop with you (or stick it in a safe) when you're not using it at your desk.
What I envision is a world in which you'll have a desk with just a monitor and a docking station in it, and you'll come home, hook up your laptop and go to town. If you go on vacation you'll either bring your laptop, or a smaller PDA version of it.
POST PC doesn't have to mean NO PC. It just means the current form factor is toast.
They're already available. Do a Google search on "head mounted display" or go to http://www.tekgear.com/ and check out their Spectre, which is a combination computer heads-up-display, nightvision goggle, and infrared goggle with several high-intensity infrared LEDs serving a small webcam like thing. 800x600 resolution, not bad for a pair of goggles.
I like Tekgear; they're expensive so far, but right now they're mostly pitching the military. Prices will improve over time.;)
The FUNCTION of the PC won't disappear; but the big boxes and monitors probably will. You'll end up using a laptop instead; all the functionality, plus the portability and the convenience and the battery backup built in...
I connect to the internet with an iBook at home, and I'm totally happy with it; it's compact, an all-in-one design, and it can be locked up when I'm not working on it. There are no cables tangling up behind it, and there are no unwieldy separate keyboard and mouse to worry about.
I have a Mobilon Tripad as a PDA, which I got on Ebay for 200 bucks. It can do web surfing, and handle email. I have a 128MB flash card which I use as a removeable hard disk. On vacations, I bring it with me and leave my more expensive laptop at home.
Soon, I'll have a Sharp Zaurus (if I win the auction) which I'm getting for 30 cents on the dollar on Ebay. The Sharp is an even nicer PDA than the Mobilon, because it uses Linux and Java, and has more memory and functionality. It's about the size of a box of cigarillos, but it has more power than many laptops did only three years ago.
For games, I use a Playstation and an XBox, and between them I can play almost any decent game on the market. Games are coming out for these consoles at a rapid pace, and they're just as fun as anything I ever played on the PC. I'm currently fighting my way through a ruined Jedi academy, killing Sith and stormtroopers; the graphics are pretty well done, and the controllers are great.
The ONLY thing I still use my PC for is Macromedia Flash, VB 6.0 tinkering, and VB.Net, none of which work on my linux-based mil-spec laptops (or my iBook). But I'm switching back over to C++ and Java for hobby programming anyway. Oh, and my PC has a CD burner, so I do backups of my source code on it. But, soon I'll have a burner for my laptop, and, well...
TheInternet said, " Call me cynical, but perhaps they think those over 29 don't have the knowledge, will or resources to defend the ownership of their creations? Just a thought."
I'm betting you meant "under 29" not "over 29" in the above. Actually, this makes sense. People in their thirties and higher generally:
1. Are done with their educations and are at the height of their powers professionally, with several years of experience;
2. Are established in whatever field they're in, and have steady pay coming in;
3. May already have a lawyer on retainer, or at least know one they're on friendly terms with;
Maybe Microsoft sees the under-29 techie as a cute fuzzy puppy they can steal from, and the 30-and-over techie as a rangy wild dog that might rip the PR flack's arm off if he gets too close. I feel better, now, for some reason! I want to be a hundred pound German Shepherd mix with long, dusty black and brown hair, a spiked leather collar (with "BUTCH" written on it) and snaggle teeth.;)
Yeah, but the bastards gave me the high hat...
on
Fishing for Ideas
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
I went to the site, wasted a bunch of time there, and got to the instructions/post an idea page, where they gleefully informed me that those over 29 years old need not apply. Oh, really? Well, fuck them too.
Umm... That's 1,099 PER LICENSE. With all due respect, and I thank you for showing me this interesting product, there's no way my boss is going to go for this. I can see the conversation already:
"So this is a decompiler?"
"Yeah, it'll let me write in C# and reverse compile back up to VB.Net so you can have VB.Net source."
"And, it costs 1,099.00 a head?"
"Well, yeah."
"1,099.00 so you can use C# instead of VB.Net?"
"Umm..."
"Just use VB.Net, for christsakes! Jeez, man, gimme a break."
I think asking for this would at least annoy my boss. He's a nice guy, I don't want to frivolously annoy him.
Thanks! Maybe you're right about the libraries, too; there's probably a common thread running through them, and I might be able to get a handle on how most of them work. Interesting...
By the way: I have to give my bosses credit about one major thing: they've been totally cool about my being sick all week (I've got a horrible virus, sort of like a combination head and chest cold, and for a few minutes I actually thought I had SARS and freaked out, then realized how unlikely that was and calmed down). I may be forced to use VB, but at least my bosses are nice people, so that's cool.
Independent consultant??? Yeesh! That's worse than living paycheck to paycheck. I've heard that if you can get a gig at all these days, it's hell getting them to actually *pay* you. Companies are totally unafraid to stiff you, because what are you going to do, sue? With what money? Right?
Nah, I'd rather be unhappy and well fed than following my muse and starving to death. Of course, I'm still fat, so it'd take a while...;)
Well, you're right in a way, because the structure of the two languages is very similar (basically a knock-off of Java) but they kept all the weirdo VB syntax and I've heard that C# offers better libraries and a little more control. VB is soooo ugly... Maybe I'm being too picky, but yuck, grody, man. Being forced to use VB.Net instead of C# is like being at a party where you're introduced to two women, both of which look similar, then having the host fix you up with the one that thinks bathing is unhealthy.
Obviously I agree with you that money isn't everything. I accepted a 17k pay cut originally (I started at 43K, down from 60K). And, I am happy with the money I'm getting, and my benefits... But the pay cut still hurt, and I'm living from paycheck to paycheck, which also hurts. Worse, unlike you, I don't really enjoy what I'm doing all that much. VB sucks ass. If I had the time to tell you about all the weird, freaky, unnatural things VB does when you're expecting it to do something normal, you'd understand. It is NOT a normal language.
I do enjoy programming, and even though I'm programming in VB, at least I'm still programming... And, it beats unemployment. But seriously, I'd be so much happier if I was working with a better tool. Even C# would be better than this, but I've been told that I'm going to have to use VB.Net instead (AIIIIGH!!!). All I see ahead of me is year after year of VB, eternally, as my skill set (at least, the part recruiters want to discuss) gets more and more stale.
Well, I used to make 60K doing Perl and Java, and now make 46K doing VB (which I'm not crazy about). There aren't many jobs available with realistic requirements, so I don't see my situation changing anytime soon. Businesses are asking for ridiculous things, like ten years of experience, several languages with years of experience each, and so on -- you have to wonder whether they're actually stupid enough to post something like that, or they're just trying to pull a fast one and justify an H1-B visa application...
Looks like salaries are in the toilet too.
My plan is, if this current position goes south, fuck programming, I'm going to get trained as a plumber. Or at least, a LAN admin or tech support guy. Something they can't outsource.
The guy I mentioned was pretty informal too; he went to school in California, I think -- might have been Berkeley. Dressed very stylishly, liked house and trance music, etc -- kind of a club kid. Cool guy, very laid back. Scary smart though...
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You're right, and I believe we're in for a hell of a rough time in the years ahead. I think that those in power (the wealthy) have targeted the entire middle class for extinction. We're economically inconvenient (how DARE we ask for a living wage? who do we think we ARE?), we're politically inconvenient (we don't vote the way rich people would prefer we vote, hence Bush's fixed election), and we're socially inconvenient (we don't agree with the rich about their supposed superiority, we don't care about "breeding" or class issues, and we're not shy about mentioning this to any rich people who happen to cross our paths). It's easy for the rich to crush us; all they have to do is eliminate our jobs. So they do; they farm out the work to third-world people they're not intimidated by. So much for the middle class... And, lest any Indians or Eastern Europeans take issue with this, and feed me an arrogant line about quality or value, let me point out that as soon as the rich perceive that YOU are becoming a problem, you'll get written off too. It's all about money and status, it has nothing to do with relative abilities.
It's a good recipe for a complete, worldwide, economic collapse. First the West, then other countries in a chain, so that eventually we're all reduced to a low common denominator and the work goes to whatever rat-ass country happens to be cheapest *right now*.
One interesting thing: this has been foreseen in science fiction since the early 1980's. Read up on your cyberpunk fiction; much of it foresees a society in which there are fewer traditional jobs, and far more black and grey market trading among disenfranchised people at street level. In the stories I've read, people basically just withdraw from the system, go underground, and live on barter. What do you think is going to happen when people get fed up with having to work minimum-wage jobs in the Gap, and they start really trying to form an underground? When they burn their ID's, go off the network, let all that credit card and student loan debt go unpaid, and morph into completely new, underground people, whole new identities. You don't need ID if you live on barter... Let corporate America choke on THAT for a while, and see how they feel about eliminating jobs.
Who knows? Maybe people will figure this out and put in some worker-protection rules. But probably not. We're all going to hell in a handbasket. But I don't care anymore. I'm just going to look out the window and enjoy the ride.
What they meant was, tech jobs will double -- so there'll be two times zero jobs available, i.e. none. Of course, we knew that already, but then the media doesn't often point out anything useful.
You're not alone, dude.
;)
I thought the original Star Wars series was ok, and worth watching once, but suffered because it was a little too kid-oriented (Ewoks??? Jawas??? too much obligatory cuteness). I don't see why people have to get so obsessed over it (did you see the guys dressing up as Jedi and lining up for the Phantom Menace? Holy Moly). And, the new series kinda sucks. Why did George Lucas make the Jedi into such a bunch of joyless fucks??? No love, no sex, no possessions, can't have fun, can't do anything amusing... Who the hell would join such an organization? No wonder they roam around, kidnapping kids to make new Jedi. Adults would chase them off with pitchforks and torches.
And, don't get me started on Star Trek. God, what awfulness. At least the original Gene Roddenberry series was an allegory for something. You had the USS Enterprise (named after an aircraft carrier), Klingons (who were basically communist Russians), Romulans (I guess Red China?) and so on. It let Roddenberry examine the cold war without being obvious about it, and he occasionally examined a traditional sci-fi deep thought or two. Not worth obsession or anyting, but amusing. But, God, the new series don't even have that to recommend them! They're so boring and sad... I mean, Jesus, it's all about geek wish-fulfillment: all the crafty techies doing techie things, with supporting women all around them, but never stealing their thunder, and so on. And, they're all so annoyingly typecast: Oh, Klingons are always butch, whatserface is the "sensitive one", the borg chick is cold and aloof... DULL, DULL DULL. Ick, foo.
And, don't get me started on all the crazy trekkies, walking around with chirping starfleet insignias on their chests... Did you hear about that maniac who spoke to his son only in Klingon for the first two years of the kid's life, making the kid's primary language KLINGON??? What is WRONG with these people? That kid's gonna be a mental case for the rest of his life.
Excellent suggestions; all I'd like to add is that I've had very good experiences with Philips brand monitors, (in fact I'm looking at one right now) and I'd recommend them to anyone. Mine is a year or two old, and it looks gorgeous; it's a Philips 107S, and cost 175.00 new. Hard to find these days, but if you can dig one up, you'll love it.
I'm not saying the UN would do that great a job. I'm just saying it's a really crummy idea to turn this war into a profiteering opportunity-grab. We shouldn't be over there; we shouldn't stick around now that it's effectively over with. The longer we're there, the more they're going to hate our guts, the more American soldiers are going to get wasted, and the worse our international reputation is going to get. We should get out, pronto, before the folks over there forget that we got rid of Saddam for them and start thinking "damn yankee invaders". Let someone else lose troops to suicide bombers. Let France send a few over. Let Germany pick up the slack. Bring our guys home, and show some integrity -- don't let corporate America make a profit over this thing. That's all I'm saying.
SN74S181 spat, "That's code-speak for 'whatever vegetarian hippies in Berkeley say is right' isn't it?"
No, dipshit. What this means is, don't send them fucking hamburgers, give them what the people in the region eat. This shouldn't be too hard to research; the UN shouldn't have any trouble with it at all.
Then, he said "'Not in your name' dude. Why don't you go tell the newly freed Iraqi people you were backing Saddam all the way"
Sigh; why do these gung-ho types always stoop straight to the cheap shots? I'm so sick of you armchair warriors shooting your mouths off. Why don't you prove how tough you are and enlist? We'll throw you a going-away party.
That's interesting; pupil tracking instead of mousing. I'm not sure whether I'd like that; I think I'll stick with my trackball (I'm a crusty sort). But, still, it's interesting.
Not a bad idea; you mean, put some kind of customized driver on your PC that captures the signal from the monitor and subtitutes your own.
The reconstruction of Iraq has already been handed off to politically-connected construction and contracting companies, and thus is inherently completely corrupt. If you get involved with it, you are contributing to a corrupt situation and are, by extension, tainted by it.
The correct thing to do here is to let international aid groups move in and give the Iraqis what they actually need: dependable sources of drinking and bathing water, rebuilt housing and infrastructure (IE roads and electric power), food they're accustomed to, and a little dignity. THIS means, fire Halliburton and let the U.N. handle the reconstruction (with generous funding from us). We shouldn't have started this war in the first place; now that it's over we should pull out and fund a U.N. driven recovery.
I have no doubt whatsoever that as soon as this becomes feasible in production, it will go into production and get heavily marketed. What makes this so awful is, once this exists, you'll never know whether your screen can do this or not (unless, that is, you're sniffing your network connection to see if any traffic is being sent). You'll always be wondering whether anyone is watching you.
So much for surfing pr0n, with one hand on the mouse... Hehehehe.
On the other hand, you could get around this with a cheap, plastic one-way-mirror film taped over the screen. 'Course, then, whatever's on the screen'd get captured.
If this sort of thing ever gets widespread, I'm going to get me one of these:
http://www.tekgear.com/product.cfm?sku=0031
Let 'em try and monitor THAT ("Um... Sir, his pupils are dilated, and he's blinking a lot... Should we send an email suggesting eyedrops?").
Let's not get carried away here. I'm just pointing out that whatever you can do with a hopped up PC, you can do with a hopped up laptop. But, to address some of your gripes,
Laptops are now available in the sub-1000.00 range brand new, and they've always been available on Ebay for a few hundred bucks. So if you're cheap, you can get a cheap laptop. You got cute with costs, by the way -- you compared a cheap PC to a midrange laptop. That's dirty pool. Compare like to like, please.
Laptops generally have large hard disks, so you only need to buy the external one if you want an extra. I was addressing the guy who wanted *two* disks on his machine; you have to buy the second disk for a PC, too (duh!). Again, you're not comparing like to like.
Most laptops now come with CD burners, and some have combination CD/DVD burners. So you don't *have* to get an external one, but you *can*.
Go ahead and rethink your complaints. I think you'll agree that they don't really hold water, and you're just clinging to your PC without any real reason for doing so. You'll feel better.
All you PC nuts remind me of the old horse-and-buggy owners. "Nah, I ain't gonna get me one of them newfangled whatchermacallits. I got my buggy, and my ole horse, Bessie. She's got the get up and go, boy, she can do ten miles an hour when she gets her dander up! Yessir, no reason to quit using this horse and buggy..."
Ha! Silly luddites!
That's a pretty cool idea actually; turning the laptop from a single-processor unit to a dual-processor unit. As far as the silent thing goes, I read an article about how they're already doing that using a fluid flowing in small pipes inside a laptop, so that the fluid draws heat away from the processor -- result: no fan, and no air having to come into the laptop (so the laptop can be totally sealed). The point may not be silent running, but it's a side effect. ;)
I disagree. The current set of iBooks have magnesium frames, and shock-mounted hard drives. These ideas came from the genre of "mil-spec" laptops which traditionally were sold to the military and the police (and telecommunications companies, oil surveyors, etc).
Soon you'll be seeing more and more durable laptops, and more power within each laptop. And, remember -- every laptop has a plug in the back where you can connect as large a monitor as you can afford, a keyboard jack, a mouse jack...
USB, Firewire, and etc let you put any kind of CD Burner you want on a laptop, and you can use flash cards as a second hard disk with a PCMCIA adapter (something that is more difficult albeit still possible with a PC). You can also get an external 20GB hard disk and hook it up to the firewire port.
Basically, what I'm trying to say is that anything you can do with a PC you can do with a laptop, and you can take the laptop with you (or stick it in a safe) when you're not using it at your desk.
What I envision is a world in which you'll have a desk with just a monitor and a docking station in it, and you'll come home, hook up your laptop and go to town. If you go on vacation you'll either bring your laptop, or a smaller PDA version of it.
POST PC doesn't have to mean NO PC. It just means the current form factor is toast.
They're already available. Do a Google search on "head mounted display" or go to http://www.tekgear.com/ and check out their Spectre, which is a combination computer heads-up-display, nightvision goggle, and infrared goggle with several high-intensity infrared LEDs serving a small webcam like thing. 800x600 resolution, not bad for a pair of goggles.
;)
I like Tekgear; they're expensive so far, but right now they're mostly pitching the military. Prices will improve over time.
The FUNCTION of the PC won't disappear; but the big boxes and monitors probably will. You'll end up using a laptop instead; all the functionality, plus the portability and the convenience and the battery backup built in...
Of course they will. They already are.
;)
I connect to the internet with an iBook at home, and I'm totally happy with it; it's compact, an all-in-one design, and it can be locked up when I'm not working on it. There are no cables tangling up behind it, and there are no unwieldy separate keyboard and mouse to worry about.
I have a Mobilon Tripad as a PDA, which I got on Ebay for 200 bucks. It can do web surfing, and handle email. I have a 128MB flash card which I use as a removeable hard disk. On vacations, I bring it with me and leave my more expensive laptop at home.
Soon, I'll have a Sharp Zaurus (if I win the auction) which I'm getting for 30 cents on the dollar on Ebay. The Sharp is an even nicer PDA than the Mobilon, because it uses Linux and Java, and has more memory and functionality. It's about the size of a box of cigarillos, but it has more power than many laptops did only three years ago.
For games, I use a Playstation and an XBox, and between them I can play almost any decent game on the market. Games are coming out for these consoles at a rapid pace, and they're just as fun as anything I ever played on the PC. I'm currently fighting my way through a ruined Jedi academy, killing Sith and stormtroopers; the graphics are pretty well done, and the controllers are great.
The ONLY thing I still use my PC for is Macromedia Flash, VB 6.0 tinkering, and VB.Net, none of which work on my linux-based mil-spec laptops (or my iBook). But I'm switching back over to C++ and Java for hobby programming anyway. Oh, and my PC has a CD burner, so I do backups of my source code on it. But, soon I'll have a burner for my laptop, and, well...
Anyone wanna buy a PC?
TheInternet said, " Call me cynical, but perhaps they think those over 29 don't have the knowledge, will or resources to defend the ownership of their creations? Just a thought."
;)
I'm betting you meant "under 29" not "over 29" in the above. Actually, this makes sense. People in their thirties and higher generally:
1. Are done with their educations and are at the height of their powers professionally, with several years of experience;
2. Are established in whatever field they're in, and have steady pay coming in;
3. May already have a lawyer on retainer, or at least know one they're on friendly terms with;
Maybe Microsoft sees the under-29 techie as a cute fuzzy puppy they can steal from, and the 30-and-over techie as a rangy wild dog that might rip the PR flack's arm off if he gets too close. I feel better, now, for some reason! I want to be a hundred pound German Shepherd mix with long, dusty black and brown hair, a spiked leather collar (with "BUTCH" written on it) and snaggle teeth.
I went to the site, wasted a bunch of time there, and got to the instructions/post an idea page, where they gleefully informed me that those over 29 years old need not apply. Oh, really? Well, fuck them too.
I'll keep my ideas to myself, thanks.
Umm... That's 1,099 PER LICENSE. With all due respect, and I thank you for showing me this interesting product, there's no way my boss is going to go for this. I can see the conversation already:
"So this is a decompiler?"
"Yeah, it'll let me write in C# and reverse compile back up to VB.Net so you can have VB.Net source."
"And, it costs 1,099.00 a head?"
"Well, yeah."
"1,099.00 so you can use C# instead of VB.Net?"
"Umm..."
"Just use VB.Net, for christsakes! Jeez, man, gimme a break."
I think asking for this would at least annoy my boss. He's a nice guy, I don't want to frivolously annoy him.
Thanks! Maybe you're right about the libraries, too; there's probably a common thread running through them, and I might be able to get a handle on how most of them work. Interesting...
By the way: I have to give my bosses credit about one major thing: they've been totally cool about my being sick all week (I've got a horrible virus, sort of like a combination head and chest cold, and for a few minutes I actually thought I had SARS and freaked out, then realized how unlikely that was and calmed down). I may be forced to use VB, but at least my bosses are nice people, so that's cool.
Thanks again!
Independent consultant??? Yeesh! That's worse than living paycheck to paycheck. I've heard that if you can get a gig at all these days, it's hell getting them to actually *pay* you. Companies are totally unafraid to stiff you, because what are you going to do, sue? With what money? Right?
;)
Nah, I'd rather be unhappy and well fed than following my muse and starving to death. Of course, I'm still fat, so it'd take a while...
Well, you're right in a way, because the structure of the two languages is very similar (basically a knock-off of Java) but they kept all the weirdo VB syntax and I've heard that C# offers better libraries and a little more control. VB is soooo ugly... Maybe I'm being too picky, but yuck, grody, man. Being forced to use VB.Net instead of C# is like being at a party where you're introduced to two women, both of which look similar, then having the host fix you up with the one that thinks bathing is unhealthy.
Obviously I agree with you that money isn't everything. I accepted a 17k pay cut originally (I started at 43K, down from 60K). And, I am happy with the money I'm getting, and my benefits... But the pay cut still hurt, and I'm living from paycheck to paycheck, which also hurts. Worse, unlike you, I don't really enjoy what I'm doing all that much. VB sucks ass. If I had the time to tell you about all the weird, freaky, unnatural things VB does when you're expecting it to do something normal, you'd understand. It is NOT a normal language.
I do enjoy programming, and even though I'm programming in VB, at least I'm still programming... And, it beats unemployment. But seriously, I'd be so much happier if I was working with a better tool. Even C# would be better than this, but I've been told that I'm going to have to use VB.Net instead (AIIIIGH!!!). All I see ahead of me is year after year of VB, eternally, as my skill set (at least, the part recruiters want to discuss) gets more and more stale.
Still think I should be happy?
Well, I used to make 60K doing Perl and Java, and now make 46K doing VB (which I'm not crazy about). There aren't many jobs available with realistic requirements, so I don't see my situation changing anytime soon. Businesses are asking for ridiculous things, like ten years of experience, several languages with years of experience each, and so on -- you have to wonder whether they're actually stupid enough to post something like that, or they're just trying to pull a fast one and justify an H1-B visa application...
Looks like salaries are in the toilet too.
My plan is, if this current position goes south, fuck programming, I'm going to get trained as a plumber. Or at least, a LAN admin or tech support guy. Something they can't outsource.
The guy I mentioned was pretty informal too; he went to school in California, I think -- might have been Berkeley. Dressed very stylishly, liked house and trance music, etc -- kind of a club kid. Cool guy, very laid back. Scary smart though...