>> I really hope this thing doesn't get as vapotware as the Phantom gaming console.
I for one am looking forward to programming my Duke Nukem Forever keyboard mappings. Becasue we all know that niether that game, nor this keyboard are vapourware.
I am in the process of buying a bunch of Sun Hardware. 2900's and 25K's. All with Ultra IV Dual Core processors.
When I was putting together my hardware and software budget I got assurances from both IBM (for Websphere and MQ) and Oracle (9i and partitioning...(yes you actually have to pay for partitioning, per CPU)), that I would continue to pay 'per cpu', not 'per core'. So my 6 CPU 2900's will count as 6 each, not 12.
Same for Veritas for their clustering and disk management software, now that I think about it...it's outragiously expensive software, but still 1 licence per CPU.
So I guess that I'm not really seeing the dual core licensing problem that I've been hearing about... not sure if it's because I work for a huge Mega-Bank with lots of pull with the vendors, or if the vendors genuinely don't want to upset customers in general. Either way it feels right.
A CPU is a CPU. It's not like the dual core gives you 2x performance or anything. It's more like a 30% boost.... It would be like them chanrging more every time a faster processor came out. Which would be ridiculous.
My take on it is that I'd love to try it out... Maybe I could find a way to use it after playing with it in the store...perhaps if there was some type of demo set up to show the advantage of using the thing in word/excel and doom3.
But all I can see is a picture of a guys hand situated over a glossy black box with keys scatterd about.
Too bad, becasue the thing probably is cool...but probably doesn't get my $140.
When I ask my Veritas guy why this is happening, he says that he's not sure himself.
I think that there is a strategy there, and he just can't talk about it. He's a pretty senior guy, and seems well informed of other goings on in the business.
Desktop and security services combined with enterprise management, backup and monitoring.
>> Yea, but so does Microsoft and Symantec, and you dont see Microsoft buying up... oh wait...
The current rumor, according to the Veritas technician who has been helping us with the i3 product, is that IBM is looking at Symantec.
It makes more sense than Microsoft. IBM can easily brand Symantec's desktop products as a side business, but the real meat of the deal is 2 things:
1. Veritas clustering and related enterprise level stuff. Goes along with IBM's enterprise services vision, as well as affording tighter integration with IBM products, like MQ and Websphere to provide more robust and highly available solutions.
2. i3 kicks major ass as a montitoring tool for j2ee and database based applications. Apparently, tighter integration with Websphere is on their minds...which would kind of be a blow to BEA (weblogic).
I also work with guys from IBM pretty regularly, and they hear the rumors on their side as well.
The hard core, enterprise level stuff has never really been a Microsoft area of business. They see happy with just taking over the desktop, and providing small to mid-range business solutions. At least that's my take on it....
>>So I code with English as my target language. Speak it, or don't use my programs, doesn't much matter to me
I agree that a system needs to have a 'base' language. The business case, requirements, design docs, and code/comments are usually better off being written 1 language.
However, if you are dealing with clients in multiple regions footing the bill for your project, it's also a good idea to think in terms of having the application support multiple languages in some type of modular way, so that they can be added (or removed) as needed, as the business changes.
I'm working on such a project right now, and if the requirements team had told our Japanese clients that the UI would be 'english only', the prject would heve ended right there..2 years ago.
Without getting into the requirements, and specifics of the implementation: English is the base language of the application, but it is trivial, (from the client perspective) for the UI language to be changed. So all menus, and screen labels/widgets can appear in the language of choice. We also allow multilingual input, where it is required(text only), and store as unicode. Fortunately stuff like account numbers, and business entities can be assigned numbers (which are universal) on lookup tables.
Though the most important data, the money, is represented by numbers, which everyone understands. No translation needed there.:)
>>How about "Nothing"? I can count on one hand the number of things I need to accomplish and places I need to go, other than my commute on work days, during the next 8 weeks. Stop living such complicated lives.
Not to sound harsh, but based upon your comments I get the sense that you probably haven't managed a project or otherwise been responsible for the work of others.
I have been meaning to ask this question to the community here for a while.
I am looking for good task management software. And I haven't seen anything yet that does what I need. Please let me explain.
I'm a project manager and Architect (software development) with 5 direct reports and an Offshore Team which I co-manage with others. It's a large project...30 people, over 4 years.
At any given time I have approx 125 tasks out there, for myself and my team. I have been having a hard time keeping track of stuff using excel and pen and paper.
I've considered writing the software I need (possibly in perl/perltk/mysql) but I don't have the time.
I'm looking for something more flexible than MS Outlook...which is way too simple, but not as top heavy as MS project (which I use for long term planning...but does not really do what I need for task management).
I should be able to assign a task with: -5 levels of priority -Task description -Status (not yet assigned, assigned, in progress, cancelled, hold, late, completed) -Proposed start and end dates -Actual start and end dates -Assign primary responsibility, backup, and off responsible helper -Task due to (group or individual) -Category (by my definition) -Sub-category (by my definition) -Status comments (by date)
It should have the ability to assign subtasks to a task... for example, task 10, which is a UAT release, is dependant on task 15 which is a daatabase refresh assigned to our DBA. This requirement sounds like MS Project but I really don't need top heavy project plannig software in this case... just task management.
Yhe tool should be able to generate reports and.csv files. For example : report of what's due for completion this week, or everything of priority 1 that is late to the clients)
I should also be able to program it with a simple schedule, say a schedule of software releases and I should get reminders of what's coming up in the next X period of time.
I am sure that someone else has needed this level of detail and control, and has this problem already solved. Any help would be appreciated.
>>I dont think that he is so much against games that have 20 hours of linear play. I think he is against games that pretty much require you to dump two hours into a single play session.
OK. But does not the savegame feature take care of this? So if I kick off a 2 hour mission and decide that after 20 minutes I'd rather do X, I just save the game and go off and do X. Later, when I am done with X, she gives me a beer and I am back at the game, where I left off.
>>f you want low power you can buy systems specifically designed to perform well on low power supply.
So if you lower the voltage into the processer, AKA underclocking it, you are reducing it's speed, and hence the number of cycles per second at which it can process instructions. For the purpose of not generating as much heat on the processor. This would allow one to use comparitively less noisy cooling fans.
So spend money on a modern processor, and slow it down, right?
Why not do it the easy and cheap way and just buy an older processor/mobo?
>>The guy standing on the right side of the picture in the MOL who appears to be "fishing" for the incoming spacecraft... with a what.. a big magnet on a tether ?
Could be a big mirror...Maybe it's the prototype for the heat absorbing tile inspection. Just another NASA project that got cancelled.
>>That thing above the hurricane that appears to be shooting something into it ? What's that ?
I think a more interesting question is : What is that thing above the hurricane that appears to be shooting something through it and down into Cuba?
Remember, this/was/ from the 1960's.
wbs.
Re:Can't afford to download free apps? Yikes!
on
Researching Open Source
·
· Score: 0, Offtopic
>>Burn FOSS software on CDs and mail them worldwide?
Probably can't do that. AOL most likely has this distribution method patented.
We could translate the instructions into bar codes and fax the resultant pages to the development community over there... Bar code software was the next big thing back in..oh..1977 or so..
Back in the late 70's some software was published this way, on paper, using bar codes. To program the machine, one used a bar code reader to scan the instructions into memory. I can't find a link for this, but anyway maybe what's old can be new again. If they can afford fax machines and phone lines..
He's moved out of the 1000 acre wood, and lives in Chicago where he is pursuing his masters. During the day he builds and supports trade support systems for The Merch.
His shop's platform of choice for workstations?
WinXP pro.
Meanwhile, back in the woods, Eeyore finally lost his tail, during a colonoscopy, and passed on during the reconstructive surgery. Sad.
Tiger and Pooh moved to Conneticut just last week, they were expecting that when Governor Reill signed the 'gay marriage bill' they'd finally be able to hook up. No such luck.
The Rabbit (what's his name) got busted in Newark 2 years ago, and is doing time down in Rahway (the big house) on multiple felony drug convictions.
Piglet is the only one left in the 1000 acre woods. He now has a cane, and walks with a slight limp. Much like a little pink Yoda. Unlike Yoda however, he has no greatness behind him, and no important tasks in his future. He can only walk around in the bog, knowing that when his end finally does come he won't 'fade out'; not that anyone will be there to notice the difference.
Don't know why I wrote this.... guess I'm trying to wake up a bit before I start figuring out how to spec out the hardware and san space for my next system........
Slashdot Mirror
I met him once, back in 83' at a comic store signing. I remember him to be a gentleman.
I lift a glass of Saurian Brandy in memory of the man who inspired a generation of engineers through his work.
God bless you Mr. Doohan.
wbs.
>> I really hope this thing doesn't get as vapotware as the Phantom gaming console.
I for one am looking forward to programming my Duke Nukem Forever keyboard mappings. Becasue we all know that niether that game, nor this keyboard are vapourware.
wbs.
I am in the process of buying a bunch of Sun Hardware. 2900's and 25K's. All with Ultra IV Dual Core processors.
When I was putting together my hardware and software budget I got assurances from both IBM (for Websphere and MQ) and Oracle (9i and partitioning...(yes you actually have to pay for partitioning, per CPU)), that I would continue to pay 'per cpu', not 'per core'. So my 6 CPU 2900's will count as 6 each, not 12.
Same for Veritas for their clustering and disk management software, now that I think about it...it's outragiously expensive software, but still 1 licence per CPU.
So I guess that I'm not really seeing the dual core licensing problem that I've been hearing about... not sure if it's because I work for a huge Mega-Bank with lots of pull with the vendors, or if the vendors genuinely don't want to upset customers in general. Either way it feels right.
A CPU is a CPU. It's not like the dual core gives you 2x performance or anything. It's more like a 30% boost.... It would be like them chanrging more every time a faster processor came out. Which would be ridiculous.
wbs.
I'm sure that with some thought you could create a statement or a mood with the placement of your furniture.
wbs.
>>The difference is that a painting is not as easily changed as a computer program
:)
Unless you are using a computer program to do the painting.
Sorry I couldn't resist. Undo is pretty useful though.
wbs.
>>picture on the wall also has a use, it covers a hole on the wall
:)
It also covers an emptyness in the wall.
Or perhaps an emptyness in a particular space.
Or maybe creates fullness in a place where one didn't know an emptyness existed before....
wbs.
I have but one thing to say before answering the question "Is programming art?".
Please define art.
wbs.
My take on it is that I'd love to try it out... Maybe I could find a way to use it after playing with it in the store...perhaps if there was some type of demo set up to show the advantage of using the thing in word/excel and doom3.
But all I can see is a picture of a guys hand situated over a glossy black box with keys scatterd about.
Too bad, becasue the thing probably is cool...but probably doesn't get my $140.
wbs.
>> It's their job to look into the future....
Not exactly a job...unless one considers palm and tarot readers to be valid jobs as well.
wbs.
When I ask my Veritas guy why this is happening, he says that he's not sure himself.
I think that there is a strategy there, and he just can't talk about it. He's a pretty senior guy, and seems well informed of other goings on in the business.
Desktop and security services combined with enterprise management, backup and monitoring.
I don't get it either.
wbs.
>> Yea, but so does Microsoft and Symantec, and you dont see Microsoft buying up... oh wait...
The current rumor, according to the Veritas technician who has been helping us with the i3 product, is that IBM is looking at Symantec.
It makes more sense than Microsoft. IBM can easily brand Symantec's desktop products as a side business, but the real meat of the deal is 2 things:
1. Veritas clustering and related enterprise level stuff. Goes along with IBM's enterprise services vision, as well as affording tighter integration with IBM products, like MQ and Websphere to provide more robust and highly available solutions.
2. i3 kicks major ass as a montitoring tool for j2ee and database based applications. Apparently, tighter integration with Websphere is on their minds...which would kind of be a blow to BEA (weblogic).
I also work with guys from IBM pretty regularly, and they hear the rumors on their side as well.
The hard core, enterprise level stuff has never really been a Microsoft area of business. They see happy with just taking over the desktop, and providing small to mid-range business solutions. At least that's my take on it....
wbs.
>>So I code with English as my target language. Speak it, or don't use my programs, doesn't much matter to me
:)
I agree that a system needs to have a 'base' language. The business case, requirements, design docs, and code/comments are usually better off being written 1 language.
However, if you are dealing with clients in multiple regions footing the bill for your project, it's also a good idea to think in terms of having the application support multiple languages in some type of modular way, so that they can be added (or removed) as needed, as the business changes.
I'm working on such a project right now, and if the requirements team had told our Japanese clients that the UI would be 'english only', the prject would heve ended right there..2 years ago.
Without getting into the requirements, and specifics of the implementation: English is the base language of the application, but it is trivial, (from the client perspective) for the UI language to be changed. So all menus, and screen labels/widgets can appear in the language of choice. We also allow multilingual input, where it is required(text only), and store as unicode. Fortunately stuff like account numbers, and business entities can be assigned numbers (which are universal) on lookup tables.
Though the most important data, the money, is represented by numbers, which everyone understands. No translation needed there.
wbs.
>>Are there any instances where "prequels" were successful and expanded the narrative?
2 words:
The Godfather.
wbs.
>>How about "Nothing"? I can count on one hand the number of things I need to accomplish and places I need to go, other than my commute on work days, during the next 8 weeks. Stop living such complicated lives.
Not to sound harsh, but based upon your comments I get the sense that you probably haven't managed a project or otherwise been responsible for the work of others.
wbs.
All,
.csv files. For example : report of what's due for completion this week, or everything of priority 1 that is late to the clients)
I have been meaning to ask this question to the community here for a while.
I am looking for good task management software. And I haven't seen anything yet that does what I need. Please let me explain.
I'm a project manager and Architect (software development) with 5 direct reports and an Offshore Team which I co-manage with others. It's a large project...30 people, over 4 years.
At any given time I have approx 125 tasks out there, for myself and my team. I have been having a hard time keeping track of stuff using excel and pen and paper.
I've considered writing the software I need (possibly in perl/perltk/mysql) but I don't have the time.
I'm looking for something more flexible than MS Outlook...which is way too simple, but not as top heavy as MS project (which I use for long term planning...but does not really do what I need for task management).
I should be able to assign a task with:
-5 levels of priority
-Task description
-Status (not yet assigned, assigned, in progress, cancelled, hold, late, completed)
-Proposed start and end dates
-Actual start and end dates
-Assign primary responsibility, backup, and off responsible helper
-Task due to (group or individual)
-Category (by my definition)
-Sub-category (by my definition)
-Status comments (by date)
It should have the ability to assign subtasks to a task... for example, task 10, which is a UAT release, is dependant on task 15 which is a daatabase refresh assigned to our DBA. This requirement sounds like MS Project but I really don't need top heavy project plannig software in this case... just task management.
Yhe tool should be able to generate reports and
I should also be able to program it with a simple schedule, say a schedule of software releases and I should get reminders of what's coming up in the next X period of time.
I am sure that someone else has needed this level of detail and control, and has this problem already solved. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
wbs.
>>I dont think that he is so much against games that have 20 hours of linear play. I think he is against games that pretty much require you to dump two hours into a single play session.
OK. But does not the savegame feature take care of this? So if I kick off a 2 hour mission and decide that after 20 minutes I'd rather do X, I just save the game and go off and do X. Later, when I am done with X, she gives me a beer and I am back at the game, where I left off.
wbs.
>>f you want low power you can buy systems specifically designed to perform well on low power supply.
So if you lower the voltage into the processer, AKA underclocking it, you are reducing it's speed, and hence the number of cycles per second at which it can process instructions. For the purpose of not generating as much heat on the processor. This would allow one to use comparitively less noisy cooling fans.
So spend money on a modern processor, and slow it down, right?
Why not do it the easy and cheap way and just buy an older processor/mobo?
wbs.
>>The guy standing on the right side of the picture in the MOL who appears to be "fishing" for the incoming spacecraft... with a what.. a big magnet on a tether ?
Could be a big mirror...Maybe it's the prototype for the heat absorbing tile inspection. Just another NASA project that got cancelled.
wbs.
>>That thing above the hurricane that appears to be shooting something into it ? What's that ?
/was/ from the 1960's.
I think a more interesting question is : What is that thing above the hurricane that appears to be shooting something through it and down into Cuba?
Remember, this
wbs.
>>Burn FOSS software on CDs and mail them worldwide?
Probably can't do that. AOL most likely has this distribution method patented.
We could translate the instructions into bar codes and fax the resultant pages to the development community over there... Bar code software was the next big thing back in..oh..1977 or so..
Back in the late 70's some software was published this way, on paper, using bar codes. To program the machine, one used a bar code reader to scan the instructions into memory. I can't find a link for this, but anyway maybe what's old can be new again. If they can afford fax machines and phone lines..
wbs.
Go away or I will replace you with a very small shell script....
I guess we've been replaced.
I for one welcome our new African Root Overlords.
wbs.
I guess that Anserson and Pella are OK just as log as they don't develop any kind of software....
I can imagine MS going after them if either company introduced a package to show how to remodel your home using their prodcuts.
"Come one down the the Home Depot and see how great your home can look, using Anderson Windows!"
wbs.
>>Every time I see that I want to stick one of those "miles per soldier" bumper stickers on the thing.
Amen brother.
wbs.
So the new language will be coded (at least partly) in the much faster, and less top heavy Fortran?
Or is it that: when using the new language, at runtime one will be reminded of how fast and close to the machine the old language is?
wbs.
Christopher Robin is all grwon up now.
He's moved out of the 1000 acre wood, and lives in Chicago where he is pursuing his masters. During the day he builds and supports trade support systems for The Merch.
His shop's platform of choice for workstations?
WinXP pro.
Meanwhile, back in the woods, Eeyore finally lost his tail, during a colonoscopy, and passed on during the reconstructive surgery. Sad.
Tiger and Pooh moved to Conneticut just last week, they were expecting that when Governor Reill signed the 'gay marriage bill' they'd finally be able to hook up. No such luck.
The Rabbit (what's his name) got busted in Newark 2 years ago, and is doing time down in Rahway (the big house) on multiple felony drug convictions.
Piglet is the only one left in the 1000 acre woods. He now has a cane, and walks with a slight limp. Much like a little pink Yoda. Unlike Yoda however, he has no greatness behind him, and no important tasks in his future. He can only walk around in the bog, knowing that when his end finally does come he won't 'fade out'; not that anyone will be there to notice the difference.
Don't know why I wrote this.... guess I'm trying to wake up a bit before I start figuring out how to spec out the hardware and san space for my next system........