I am now forced to buy an iPod in order to play the music I legally bought from iTunes. Thereby eliminating the competition. People make buying mistakes and usually live with then until they can change that matter, but with Apple and iTunes, you must live with those mistakes unless you want to purchase the music all over again.
Ok, look at this way. I'm a mac user and let's say that someone bought me an iRiver and I bought some songs off of Napster or MSN at work and put them on my iRiver. Now inorder for me it make use of that music or to purchase additional music for that iRiver online at home, I would have to buy a PC and install windows on it.
Which lock in is worse? I happen to like my iPod and I can purchase songs with either a PC or Mac and if I decided to switch platforms, all my music could be transfered without conversion. Can you do the same thing with a WMA store and a Playsforsure player? No. I would have to purchase my music all over again simply because I changed computer platforms. Where do you listen to your music the most? On the road with your player or on your computer? I listen to music more at home and I also like to be able to use my iTMS songs in my iLife projects without restriction for my personal use.
You might want to check your statistics. France has the highest incidence of infection and it has been a bastion of atheism for centuries not to mention irrational/self destructive foreign policy. Voltaire, the French revolution etc...
There may be a decline of religion in a few countries in western Europe but looking worldwide, atheism is on a sharp decline from it's already small numbers. The largest declines of atheism occurred after the fall of communism in Russia and eastern Europe.
No doubt I will be modded as flamebait for injecting "facts" into the discussion by the same people that modded you insightful.
He is stating his opinion. If you don't like it, comment instead of abusing mod points.
I have to agree with you r00t. Cats are filthy animals which can endanger the health of loved ones. Sometimes, you have to make a choice and choose your human family members over pets. I personally cannot stand cats.
I cannot fathom how some people can place pets ahead of their own or other people's safety/health.
And, once we whip around a star, we can go back in time to save the whales and invent transparent aluminum (which, of course, my physics professor showed us was impossible to create).
Oh really? What about this or this? Granted, this is transparent Alumina, which is aluminum oxide - Al2-O3 but it's close enough in my book.
I'm not a developer at all. I'm a mid-level sysadmin and desktop analyst at a midsize company with about a 100 person IT department. We have a handful of in-house developers, and about two-thirds of the department are system analysts of some kind (we have a lot of highly specialized systems). IMX, people who speak like you do tend to be all-fluff-no-buff. I'm sure you have lots of experience with project scope meetings. It certainly sounds like exactly that.
I'm sorry, I'm really not trying to insult you personally. It just irritates me that I have to spend extra time decoding what people standing right in front of me are actually saying. It's bad enough when I have to decode some poorly written documentation written by someone who speaks English as a second language. I shouldn't have the same problem with someone who grew up 20 miles from me.
We don't have code monkeys. Everyone I work with understand what phrase "project scope" means. Maybe products of the US educational system have a problem with the English language but Canadians such as myself do not.
Now if our Sys Admins have no problem with the word and you do, who has the problem here? Here is a definition of project scope management.
English is my second language but I have no difficulty understanding these terms or learning new languages. Do not blame me for your learning deficiencies.
I hope all of that jargon on the wikipedia page did not scare you but IT professionals regularly have to learn to deal with jargon day in and day out. It is the same for virtually any professional.
Bill, in my experience the quality of a software release will go down if end user/project stake holder expectations are not managed properly. When managers fail to manage expectations you can end up with developers working under unrealistic release schedules or feature scope. Such pressures can lead to a great deal of rushing/overtime which can lead to mistakes being made and shortcuts taken.
I speak from experience that I cannot directly talk about but I have been following Vista/Longhorn for a number of years. These latest delays are the latest in a string of delays as Vista was supposed to be released last year originally. All of these issues only serve to illustrate that they project was poorly planned and executed. Given the resources MSFT has at its disposal, they should have been able to release WinFS and some of the more useful features by now as Vista/Longhorn "release 1" and delivered the rest a year or two later as Vista 2.0.
I feel it was unrealistic to try to do everything in one shot and MSFT will have to pay for it down the road with bugs and security flaws.
Yeah, see, this kinda ruined your credibility. "De-scope" is managerial jargon, not English. Likewise with overuse of "priority" and "functionality".
I'm sorry but I'm a developer and systems analyst. The jargon "descope" refers to dropping of features in release scope sessions where the team leads, system architects, analysts, and project managers decide which features are necessary and which are not for a release. That decision is based on consultation with the key stake holders of the project who provide priority for each element of functionality they would like to see. Due to time constraints, not all features they would like can be included within a release so a decision must be made to only include the higher priority items.
I have a great deal of experience with project scope meetings. Do you think all developers work on fully defined specifications? I'm afraid that it is you that has ruined your credibility as anything more than a code monkey.
This is not flamebait. If a moderator disagrees with the poster, they should rather give up their chance to moderate the discussion and respond instead of abusing the system.
I'm sorry but you have absolutely no clue about what you are talking about. Managers do not have to a complete understanding of what their staff members do. The managerial skills they possess are equally important to the an organization's success as your technical skills.
If you want to see an example of how poor management performance can negatively affect the output of a company, you only need look at the windows OS development unit.
MSFT has a lot of talented developers on their payroll but their middle management and project leaders appear to be completely incompetent in their managerial role. I would surmise that a lot of their problems with quality and delays are caused by managers not being able to manage expectations and not being able to de-scope unnecessary functionality while prioritizing core functionality.
A manager should hire the best people with skills outside of their own core competence. Managers who involve themselves in the day to day operations of their department are micro-managers which is something you do not want.
You don't go to college for Computer Science to learn programming, development, or tech support. You go to college for Computer Science to A) get a job in India, B) learn how to think and reason, and apply math and computer science to solve real world problems.
Learning how to think and reason is supposed to be part of the development stages of every human being. If you cannot do that long before your college years, a four year degree program will not provide you with those skills. Given that CS is a relatively recent development in human history, I fail to see how you can argue this as people have been able to think and reason with or without universities for many millennia.
You do not need a degree in math or computer science to solve real world problems. In fact, I've found that CS graduate often have a difficult time coming up with realistic solutions to real world problems.
If you want to write simple business apps, I'm sure there are PLENTY of jobs for you.
You would be surprised how difficult it can be to write user-friendly "simple" business apps if you lack common sense and social skills. Neither of those are taught by professors in CS degree courses.
But if you want to do interesting development and computer science work, well, you're probably going to be flipping burgers and doing it on your own time, at least with the way things seem to be going (at least in the US).
So which burger joint to do work at? Are you one of those guys with a masters degree I was talking about earlier? Here is a free hint for you, work on your attitude, find some influential friends and maybe you will be able land a job as a junior programmer.
You arrogantly assume that people without a degree are incapable of writing anything but so called "simple business apps". I worked on an engineering program in tandem with an engineer to develop a so called "expert system". When writing expert systems, you usually would want to pair an expert in the field you are developing for with a developer with sufficient knowledge to translate the expert's knowledge into code.
Your lack of humility is your greatest weakness and your obvious prejudice is your second greatest one.
PS. I would assume that developers of Mathematica, Maple, Power Grid Control do not work in isolation and regularly consult actual experts in those fields rather than relying on a jack of all trades CS graduate to develop it.
Why is marketshare mentioned in these cases and used as a crutich to defend windows? The exploits in windows or any other OS exist due to programmer error regardless of the size of the marketshare. Some could argue that a greater marketshare makes an OS a more visible target but that alone does not explain why the viruses exist. There has to be an other reason why people are motivated to write viruses for windows. Could it be that they do it because they hate how MSFT gained their monopoly?
But this does not explain why the exploits which provide vectors for attack exist. Perhaps marketshare plays into this as well where developers at MSFT have become lazy and complacent with their commanding market position.
Let's stop blaming users for security problems and lay blame squarely on the developers themselves. If any company deserves a class action lawsuit, I would say MSFT does when you consider the amount of money spent compensating for their incompetence.
I believe that working in technical support made me a better developer. When you work in tech support, you tend to see all the mistakes other developers make and how it affects end users. I won't say that I don't make some of the same mistakes but I think I'm more open to hearing end user concerns and considering non-functional requirements such as performance and ease of deployment when determining scope for a release.
Why would these guys want to continue work for 32k USD per annum? They don't need a CS degree to become developers earning a lot more than that. All it takes is a bit of education at a technical college, some social networking, a willingness to learn and humility to start at the bottom.
Contrary to what the Slashdot group think profess, it is not necessary to earn a CS degree in order to achieve developer status. I'm living proof of someone that worked my way up the ladder without any degrees whatsoever.
Don't get me wrong, a degree can provide you with useful skills but it cannot give you the thirst to learn or the drive to succeed and it is no substitute for inherent talent.
Have you ever wondered why there are people with college degrees flipping burgers or waiting tables? They are there because they lacked the drive to succeed and the humility to start in a junior position.
And people who use it professionally will be able to afford the upgrade. I'm sure they will offer upgrade pricing for a crossgrade from the CS2 to CS3.
Google for a video of Jobs demoing NeXT Step. He was a micro-manager even back then. You can tell that the drag and drop, lip service (voice notes), Library and dictionary were included in the OS because those were feature he wanted in a business OS. The amount of NeXTStep in Tiger is eerie.
A more recent example of Jobs "designing" software would be Keynote which he beta tested for nearly a year before it was released to the public. If software is easy enough for a CEO to use, then it is going to be easy for the average user.
Candy-coated buttons piss me off. Complexity does not scare me.
Unnecessary complexity in a UI bothers me especially if what is exposed is all that there is. With OS X, the UI is simple and elegant and lets you get the job done. It is designed (or at least UAT) by a CEO, for CEO's and the average Joe.
This makes it easy to use for everybody with a limited amount of learning. The people with the most trouble adjusting are switchers from windows which I can attest to being a switcher myself.
In OSX, the power and features are still there. You can drop to the command line with terminal.app or write your own apps, or write your own finder plug-ins to extend what functionality is exposed. If you are completely unsatisfied with the finder, you can replace it with Pathfinder 4 or write your own.
The servers will be the last modesl to transition. The Xserves are a good value for the money and very competitive in certain niche markets such as the cluster and scientific research market.
I don't think you understand anything about processors, chipsets and motherboards. Switching to AMD would require a completely different motherboard design.
I don't know where you are stuck but most mac users know it is the OS and the software that you run that defines a machine's usefulness. The hardware fanboys may argue over what hardware is the best but all of that hardware is completely useless to a user without decent software to run on it.
To me, the software is the most important part of the system.
Slashdot Mirror
Ok, look at this way. I'm a mac user and let's say that someone bought me an iRiver and I bought some songs off of Napster or MSN at work and put them on my iRiver. Now inorder for me it make use of that music or to purchase additional music for that iRiver online at home, I would have to buy a PC and install windows on it.
Which lock in is worse? I happen to like my iPod and I can purchase songs with either a PC or Mac and if I decided to switch platforms, all my music could be transfered without conversion. Can you do the same thing with a WMA store and a Playsforsure player? No. I would have to purchase my music all over again simply because I changed computer platforms. Where do you listen to your music the most? On the road with your player or on your computer? I listen to music more at home and I also like to be able to use my iTMS songs in my iLife projects without restriction for my personal use.
There may be a decline of religion in a few countries in western Europe but looking worldwide, atheism is on a sharp decline from it's already small numbers. The largest declines of atheism occurred after the fall of communism in Russia and eastern Europe.
No doubt I will be modded as flamebait for injecting "facts" into the discussion by the same people that modded you insightful.
Some of you people might not agree with everything he says but it is not fair to mod it as flamebait. We are living unhealthy lifestyles.
I have to agree with you r00t. Cats are filthy animals which can endanger the health of loved ones. Sometimes, you have to make a choice and choose your human family members over pets. I personally cannot stand cats.
I cannot fathom how some people can place pets ahead of their own or other people's safety/health.
Oh really? What about this or this? Granted, this is transparent Alumina, which is aluminum oxide - Al2-O3 but it's close enough in my book.
We don't have code monkeys. Everyone I work with understand what phrase "project scope" means. Maybe products of the US educational system have a problem with the English language but Canadians such as myself do not.
Now if our Sys Admins have no problem with the word and you do, who has the problem here? Here is a definition of project scope management.
English is my second language but I have no difficulty understanding these terms or learning new languages. Do not blame me for your learning deficiencies.
I hope all of that jargon on the wikipedia page did not scare you but IT professionals regularly have to learn to deal with jargon day in and day out. It is the same for virtually any professional.
I speak from experience that I cannot directly talk about but I have been following Vista/Longhorn for a number of years. These latest delays are the latest in a string of delays as Vista was supposed to be released last year originally. All of these issues only serve to illustrate that they project was poorly planned and executed. Given the resources MSFT has at its disposal, they should have been able to release WinFS and some of the more useful features by now as Vista/Longhorn "release 1" and delivered the rest a year or two later as Vista 2.0.
I feel it was unrealistic to try to do everything in one shot and MSFT will have to pay for it down the road with bugs and security flaws.
I'm sorry but I'm a developer and systems analyst. The jargon "descope" refers to dropping of features in release scope sessions where the team leads, system architects, analysts, and project managers decide which features are necessary and which are not for a release. That decision is based on consultation with the key stake holders of the project who provide priority for each element of functionality they would like to see. Due to time constraints, not all features they would like can be included within a release so a decision must be made to only include the higher priority items.
I have a great deal of experience with project scope meetings. Do you think all developers work on fully defined specifications? I'm afraid that it is you that has ruined your credibility as anything more than a code monkey.
The best way is prevention; blacklights.
No, the best way to sit down when you take a piss at home.
This is not flamebait. If a moderator disagrees with the poster, they should rather give up their chance to moderate the discussion and respond instead of abusing the system.
If you want to see an example of how poor management performance can negatively affect the output of a company, you only need look at the windows OS development unit.
MSFT has a lot of talented developers on their payroll but their middle management and project leaders appear to be completely incompetent in their managerial role. I would surmise that a lot of their problems with quality and delays are caused by managers not being able to manage expectations and not being able to de-scope unnecessary functionality while prioritizing core functionality.
A manager should hire the best people with skills outside of their own core competence. Managers who involve themselves in the day to day operations of their department are micro-managers which is something you do not want.
Learning how to think and reason is supposed to be part of the development stages of every human being. If you cannot do that long before your college years, a four year degree program will not provide you with those skills. Given that CS is a relatively recent development in human history, I fail to see how you can argue this as people have been able to think and reason with or without universities for many millennia.
You do not need a degree in math or computer science to solve real world problems. In fact, I've found that CS graduate often have a difficult time coming up with realistic solutions to real world problems.
If you want to write simple business apps, I'm sure there are PLENTY of jobs for you.
You would be surprised how difficult it can be to write user-friendly "simple" business apps if you lack common sense and social skills. Neither of those are taught by professors in CS degree courses.
But if you want to do interesting development and computer science work, well, you're probably going to be flipping burgers and doing it on your own time, at least with the way things seem to be going (at least in the US).
So which burger joint to do work at? Are you one of those guys with a masters degree I was talking about earlier? Here is a free hint for you, work on your attitude, find some influential friends and maybe you will be able land a job as a junior programmer.
You arrogantly assume that people without a degree are incapable of writing anything but so called "simple business apps". I worked on an engineering program in tandem with an engineer to develop a so called "expert system". When writing expert systems, you usually would want to pair an expert in the field you are developing for with a developer with sufficient knowledge to translate the expert's knowledge into code.
Your lack of humility is your greatest weakness and your obvious prejudice is your second greatest one.
PS. I would assume that developers of Mathematica, Maple, Power Grid Control do not work in isolation and regularly consult actual experts in those fields rather than relying on a jack of all trades CS graduate to develop it.
But this does not explain why the exploits which provide vectors for attack exist. Perhaps marketshare plays into this as well where developers at MSFT have become lazy and complacent with their commanding market position.
Let's stop blaming users for security problems and lay blame squarely on the developers themselves. If any company deserves a class action lawsuit, I would say MSFT does when you consider the amount of money spent compensating for their incompetence.
I believe that working in technical support made me a better developer. When you work in tech support, you tend to see all the mistakes other developers make and how it affects end users. I won't say that I don't make some of the same mistakes but I think I'm more open to hearing end user concerns and considering non-functional requirements such as performance and ease of deployment when determining scope for a release.
Contrary to what the Slashdot group think profess, it is not necessary to earn a CS degree in order to achieve developer status. I'm living proof of someone that worked my way up the ladder without any degrees whatsoever.
Don't get me wrong, a degree can provide you with useful skills but it cannot give you the thirst to learn or the drive to succeed and it is no substitute for inherent talent.
Have you ever wondered why there are people with college degrees flipping burgers or waiting tables? They are there because they lacked the drive to succeed and the humility to start in a junior position.
And people who use it professionally will be able to afford the upgrade. I'm sure they will offer upgrade pricing for a crossgrade from the CS2 to CS3.
Yeah, thanks for stating the obvious.
A more recent example of Jobs "designing" software would be Keynote which he beta tested for nearly a year before it was released to the public. If software is easy enough for a CEO to use, then it is going to be easy for the average user.
Unnecessary complexity in a UI bothers me especially if what is exposed is all that there is. With OS X, the UI is simple and elegant and lets you get the job done. It is designed (or at least UAT) by a CEO, for CEO's and the average Joe.
This makes it easy to use for everybody with a limited amount of learning. The people with the most trouble adjusting are switchers from windows which I can attest to being a switcher myself.
In OSX, the power and features are still there. You can drop to the command line with terminal.app or write your own apps, or write your own finder plug-ins to extend what functionality is exposed. If you are completely unsatisfied with the finder, you can replace it with Pathfinder 4 or write your own.
What the hell is Atom and who supports it? Amiga users said that it was superior too. Where is it now?
It is the "software" stupid. People are willing to pay for "quality" software because it is the software that people actually use, not the hardware.
The servers will be the last modesl to transition. The Xserves are a good value for the money and very competitive in certain niche markets such as the cluster and scientific research market.
I don't think you understand anything about processors, chipsets and motherboards. Switching to AMD would require a completely different motherboard design.
You should be aware that all new hardware will have TPM in hardware.
To me, the software is the most important part of the system.